Santissima Annunziata, Baroque church in Salerno, Italy.

The Santissima Annunziata is a Baroque church on via Portacatena in Salerno. Its facade has two shaped marble niches left empty of the statues planned by Francesco Ragozzino, eight pilasters, and a triangular pediment; the portal is embossed copper with a low-relief Annunciation roundel. Inside, a single nave under a groin-vaulted barrel vault leads to a hemispherical dome with coffers and rosettes.

The present church was built in 1627 as Santissima Annunziata Nuova, replacing a late-15th-century church destroyed by a flood in 1626. That earlier building had itself replaced the Santissima Annunziata Vecchia, or Extra Moenia. In the early 18th century Ferdinando Sanfelice directed restorations and designed the monumental bell tower beside the vanished Porta Catena. The church was badly damaged in the September 1943 Salerno landings and partly submerged by the 1954 flood.

The church stands in the Fornelle district beside the vanished Portacatena, the western gate of the old centre. Its name recalls the Annunciation, shown in the low-relief roundel above the portal and once in a wooden group destroyed by the 2008 sacristy fire. The restored sacristy lunettes carry the coats of arms of archbishops Valerio Laspro, Camillo Sorgente and Marino Paglia, with that of Luigi Moretti added.

The building sits in the historic center and is easily found when walking through the old town streets. Visitors should expect opening hours tied to religious services and should dress appropriately to respect the sacred space.

The wooden organ, built in 1880 by Giovanni Battista De Lorenzi in Neo-Gothic style, was originally intended for the Cathedral of Schio and only reached Salerno in 1888. It has three ivory keyboards and a 27-pedal board.