Church of Santissima Annunziata, Monastery church in Montecosaro Scalo, Italy

The Basilica of Santa Maria a Piè di Chienti, also called Santissima Annunziata, stands in open countryside on the north bank of the Chienti, outside Montecosaro Scalo. Rebuilt in 1125, it is entirely in brick: a three-aisled basilica with a taller, wider central nave under a trussed roof, ending in two superimposed semicircular apses, the lower one with three radial chapels and an ambulatory.

Documents of the Abbey of Farfa, on which the founding monks depended, mention the church as early as 936; the present building was rebuilt in 1125 by the Lombard abbot Agenolfo, as two inscriptions inside record. The Benedictine community drained the marshy plain and walled the complex against floods and Saracen raids. In 1477 Pope Sixtus IV transferred it to the Ospedale di Santa Maria della Pietà of Camerino.

The church's name shifted over the centuries: before 1300 it was usually called Santa Maria, sometimes with "di" or "al Chienti" after the nearby river. The monastic complex also hosted small dwellings and workshops, and its fair on 25 March made it a trading centre.

The church stands in a rural spot on the north bank of the Chienti, just outside Montecosaro Scalo, so it is reached by car or on foot along the river rather than from a town square. The floor of the entrance endonarthex lies below the outside ground level, so watch the step at the door.

Although the church is listed as Italian national heritage, it remains an active place of worship, which is less common for a building of this status. Along the side walls of some chapels, fragments of original medieval painted plaster survive beneath later layers and are still visible to anyone who looks closely.