Santa Maria Annunziata in Borgo, Baroque church in Borgo district, Rome, Italy.
Santa Maria Annunziata in Borgo is an oratory on Lungotevere Vaticano, built to a design by Pietro Passalacqua with a single nave and plaster decorations. Its façade is counted among the refined 18th-century works of Rome. Inside are a detached fresco of the Virgin of the Milk with the Child attributed to Antoniazzo Romano and a lunette of St. Michael appearing to Pope Gregory the Great.
Santa Maria Annunziata was founded in 1688 as the oratory of the Archconfraternity of the Ospedale di Santo Spirito in Sassia. Pietro Passalacqua rebuilt it between 1742 and 1745 along Borgo Santo Spirito. In 1940 the opening of Via della Conciliazione led to its dismantling; the Archconfraternity resisted expropriation until promised an identical reconstruction nearby. Rebuilt facing the Tiber, it reopened in the Holy Year of 1950.
The church preserves a fresco depicting the Virgin with the Child, attributed to Renaissance painter Antoniazzo Romano. This work ranks among the most valued artworks inside and draws the attention of visitors interested in early Italian painting.
The building sits in the Borgo district east of the Vatican and is easily accessible on foot from the city center. The church remains open during regular visiting hours, and it is advisable to visit on days outside of services if you want to look around at your own pace.
Beside the entrance stands a statue of St. Michael the Archangel fighting Lucifer, attributed to the French sculptor Louis-Albert Lefeuvre. It is easy to walk past on the way to the Tiber, yet it ties the oratory to the nearby Ospedale di Santo Spirito, whose archconfraternity rebuilt the church after its 1940 dismantling.
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