During restoration work an archaeological investigation was undertaken inside the church of the ex-monastery dell’Annunziata.
The monastic complex, built by Galeazzo Maria Sforza to fulfill a vow he made in 1466, was completed in 1472, whilst the church was consecrated with the name of “Santa Maria Annunziata” in 1477.
It was ascertained that the plan of the church revealed by the excavation was that of the original layout dating to the moment of the church’s foundation, as successive building interventions only involved the construction and demolition of a few side buildings, the construction of internal walls and the blocking of some entrances but all in respect of the original supporting walls which enclosed an area of circa 450 m2.
In a document dated 1581 – “the site of the monastery of Capuchin Friars Observants at Abbia Grasso…” – the church is described thus: “…with the high chapel and altar facing east, with the choir, two chapels at the mid point of the church, with a great door in the middle of the said two chapels…In this church there are another three chapels…”. In this document there is no mention of the presence of chamber vaults below the floor of the two central chapels and the existence of four communicating vaulted spaces on an N-S alignment which also communicated with the exterior via small apertures which the excavation revealed.
For the first phase the excavation uncovered several pieces of a terracotta tile and brick pavement in the area of the presbytery. The pavement was laid in such a way as to follow the division of the area into three distinct zones.
The post-Renaissance period showed numerous interventions which modified the arrangement of the internal spaces; the tomb structures ceased to be used and direct inhumation of the dead in earth graves began. The pavement of this period, made up of rectangular terracotta tiles placed in a herring bone pattern remained in use until the secularization of the monastery in the Napoleonic period.
From this moment the building lost its original function and became a civil structure. The nave’s three side chapels were demolished and the entire building was divided into three rooms used for residential and productive purposes.
However, it can be suggested that the area of the church once indicated as the presbytery continued in its ecclesiastical function. (Umberto Ferrante)