Chiesa degli Ottimati

The Church of Ottimati (or Santa Maria Annunziata) is an ancient Byzantine-Norman church which is close to Castle Square, in Reggio Calabria. Built around the tenth century, it took its name from the ancient Crypt of Ottimati that was built as a support structure for the church in the Norman period of the twelfth century, dedicated to St. Gregory the Great. The Ottimati were a congregation of nobles founded by the Normans. In the Church, in fact, they have kept the marble arms of the noble families of the city. After the Saracen destruction of the ancient painting of the Annunciation, the Congregation had commissioned a new altarpiece to the young Florentine Agostino Ciampelio (1597), a work of great artistic value. In 1916, the building was literally dismantled and moved to the new needs of the city's reconstruction after the earthquake of 1908. The reconstruction of the Church was completed in 1933, under the supervision of the Beato Angelico school in Milan on project by architect Pompilio Seno, who adopted the pre-existing Byzantine Chapel of Ottimati. The new Church is in Arab-Norman style with three naves. The times are in cruise, the center supported by columns. Some pieces of the beautiful mosaic floor and the missing columns have been integrated with the inclusion of similar pieces from the Norman Basilica of Santa Maria di Terreti, completely destroyed.