Santissima Annunziata di Portoria, 15th-century church in Portoria district, Genoa, Italy.
The Santissima Annunziata di Portoria is a 15th-century church with three naves supported by brick pillars throughout its interior. Multiple chapels display numerous Renaissance artworks and demonstrate the artistic variety of the period.
The church was founded in 1488 and developed alongside the Ospedale di Pammatone as an important religious and medical complex. This close connection shaped the site's role in Genoa for centuries afterward.
The church is commonly called Santa Caterina because it holds the body of Caterina Fieschi Adorno, who directed the Pammatone hospital from 1489 until her death in 1510. Canonised in 1737, she is honoured in the 1837 vault fresco by Giuseppe Passano showing her triumph. The double marble portal of 1521 is by Pier Antonio Piuma, with acanthus capitals and friars' heads.
The church is reached from a small side square off Via Bartolomeo Bosco, behind the glass-and-concrete Palazzo di Giustizia, which covers much of the old churchyard. A second entrance with an internal staircase opens on Via IV Novembre, on the Acquasola side. The Capuchin convent and the upper chapel also face the square.
The saint's mausoleum was rebuilt by architect Eugenio Fuselli after the war and inaugurated by Cardinal Giuseppe Siri on 8 May 1960, when Catherine's body was placed inside. The original monument had been commissioned from Schiaffino after her 1737 canonization; during the 1942 bombing the urn was moved to the Grimaldi family crypt.
The community of curious travelers
AroundUs brings together thousands of curated places, local tips, and hidden gems, enriched daily by 93,761 contributors worldwide.