Santissima Annunziata, Pistoia Explained

The church and convent of the Santissima Annunziata (Most Holy Virgin of the Annunciation) is a Baroque-style, Roman Catholic church located on Piazza de Servi #4, Pistoia, region of Tuscany, Italy. The convent presently functions as a warehouse. The church is down via Laudesi from the San Desiderio, and via Piazza de Servi, From San Giovanni Decollato.

History

Priests of the Servite order arrived to Pistoia by 1241, and moved here to a house with a small oratory titled Santa Maria Novelleta and located just outside the gates of the Porta San Piero.[1] By 1270-1271 construction of a convent and church had begun. Initially, the Servites were affiliated with San Pietro Maggiore in town, but by 1296, a new larger church at the site was underway, not completed until 1393.[2] The original consecration to Santa Maria de’ Servi was altered in 1537 to the Santissima Annunziata. In the 17th century, the church was refurbished and decorated with Baroque frescoes and stucco. In 1786, the convent was suppressed by the Bishop Ricci, but recruited again as a monastery by 1794. In 1810, the Napoleonic forces again suppressed the convent. The church was made into a parish until 1856, when the Servites briefly returned, only to be again suppressed in Pistoia this time by the Italian kingdom, turning the convent into barracks. The cloister retains 17th-century frescoes depicting the history of the Servite order.[3] [4]

Description

The organ present in 1853 was made by Filippo Tronci. An inventory in 1853 listed the church as containing the following works:[5] [6]

In the cloister, the six frescoed lunettes (1601-1602) before the sacristy we painted by Bernardino Poccetti; the six frescoed lunettes (1637) before the refectory we painted by Francesco Montelatici (Cecco Bravo); while above windows are frescoes by Filippo Cremoncini.Other frescoes in the convent were completed by Alessio Gimignani, Giovanni Martinelli, Giovanni Domenico Pestrini father and son.

Notes and References

  1. https://books.google.com/books?id=ZR4OAQAAIAAJ Pistoia e il suo territorio: Pescia e i suoi dintorni: guida del forestiero
  2. Tigri, page 238.
  3. https://www.diocesipistoia.it/parrocchia-santissima-annunziata/ Diocese of Pistoia
  4. https://www.comune.pistoia.it/6485/chiesa-e-convento-santissima-annunziata/ Comune of Pistoia
  5. https://books.google.com/books?id=h3w5AAAAcAAJ Guida di Pistoia per'gli amanti delle Belle Arti
  6. Tigri page 239.