Church of Santissima Annunziata

The role of the urban patriciate in the foundation of a church for the Friars Minor

On the site where the church currently stands, outside the protected center of the city, there was a chapel, documented in sources as early as the 13th century. 

A clear trace of this pre-existing building remains in the building itself, represented by the pointed arches that punctuate the right wall of the hall, which are also visible from the outside, and by the setting of the presbytery vault. 

In 1535 the order of Friars Minor, who had already held the convent of San Sergio di Drapia from 1421, obtained the right to transfer their community to the Annunziata, which was closer to the urban center of Tropea than the first monastery. 

The concession, which occurred on the occasion of the passage of Emperor Charles V, was accompanied by a donation from the citizens, which allowed the reconstruction of the church and the building of the nearby convent, today in a state of partial ruin. 

The date of foundation of the Friars Minor complex can be partly read on the frame of the entrance portal, visible when entering the seventeenth-century vestibule. 

The internal space has a single hall with a square choir and is surmounted by a valuable coffered ceiling, with a larger central panel, embellished with the shield of San Bernardino di Siena. 

The sixteenth-century sculptural group of the Annunciation dominates the altar, attributed to Giovan Battista Mazzolo a sculptor from Messina.