Chiesa di Sant'Anna dei Pompetti, Medieval church in Teramo, Italy.
Chiesa di Sant'Anna dei Pompetti is a small stone church built against the bastion of the Torre Bruciata. Its rough masonry facade of tan, beige and grey stones has a tall panelled wooden door in a pale stone frame, one small rectangular window, and a shallow gabled roofline. A brick bell tower with arched openings and a dark bell rises at the top left corner, with two loudspeakers mounted at its base.
The building is what survives of the ancient cathedral of Santa Maria Aprutiensis, first cited as ecclesia aprutina in a letter of Pope Gregory I in 598. It was damaged by fire in 1156 during the Norman sack led by Robert II of Bassavilla, and in 1175 took the title of San Getulio after Saint Berardo's remains were moved to Teramo's cathedral. Francesco Savini's excavations from 1896 identified the structure with the early cathedral; it became a national monument in 1902.
The name Pompetti comes from the family that acquired the church in 1804 and used it as a private oratory; the family still passes down the name Anna in memory of the saint. The church was long known as San Getulio, a title taken in 1175 when Saint Berardo's remains were moved to Teramo Cathedral.
The church stands on Piazza Sant'Anna, against the bastion of the Torre Bruciata and beside the church of Santa Caterina. It belongs to the parish of Sant'Antonio, not to a diocese directly. The facade has a tall wooden door and a small window; the interior is small and often closed outside service times.
Beneath the church floor, visible through glass panels, lies a mosaic from the Roman Republican period that creates a direct physical link between ancient and medieval building phases. This hidden layer tells the story of two civilizations at the same location.
The community of curious travelers
AroundUs brings together thousands of curated places, local tips, and hidden gems, enriched daily by 92,631 contributors worldwide.