Santuario dell'Annunziata

The Church of the Annunciation was erected in devotion of the pious woman Maria Manca. The works began in 1618 after which, according to tradition, the Virgin appeared to the woman offering her a carnation, and ended in 1627. The historic Primaldo Coco attributes the project to the master mason Marcello Ricciardi from Lecce. It's said that Giuseppe da Copertino, who later became Saint, fell into ecstasy during the celebration of Mass in the Church of the Annunciation. In the middle of the seventeenth century, to accommodate the increasing number of pilgrims, were added two rooms behind the main altar, on which they built other rooms, a porch and a courtyard with a porch and tank in the center. On these assumptions, Msgr. Antonio Caricato has asked the election as Sanctuary, obtained for acceptance of the Bishop Francesco Minerva in 1971.

(From a text by Prof. Angelo Cappello)