Basilica Sanctuary of Santissima Annunziata – Florence

The place where the current church of the Santissima Annunziata is, originally hosted an oratory, dating back to 1081 and wanted by Matilde di Canossa as a vow of salvation to the Virgin, following the siege of Henry IV. Two centuries later, seven young people asked the city for the concession of the building, which it then poured in miserable conditions, so that the Servants of Mary could settle there.

In 1252 Fra Bartolomeo was commissione to fresco an Annunciation, but the painter had some difficulties representing the face of Our Lady: according to the tradition, he fell asleep while working on the fresco, and, as he woke up, he found the work completed by an angel.

From this moment on, the citizens of Florence and other pilgrims from other cities come to visit the place, also financing the reconstruction of the church and paying for the works of art at their own expense, thus making it possible for the Servites to purchase additional portions of the surrounding land to expand the architectural complex. The City of Florence also created a special road, the current Via dei Servi, and the whole complex was included in the fourteenth-century city walls.

Between the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries the church was enlarged; renovation works continued also during the following centuries, until the great nineteenth-century restoration by the architect Giuseppe Poggi.