La Real Casa dell'Annunziata di Aversa

Situated in the south-east area of Aversa, the complex of the Annunziata developed beyond the town walls, and since the Angevin period it has served a dual mission, that of an orphanage for the reception of abandoned girls, and as a hospital. The construction of the church, prior to 1320, was followed, between the fifteenth and sixteenth century, by its new function as a care mission, testified by the triumphal marble arch entrance that can be ascribed to Tommaso Malvito. In the Baroque period, in addition to the church’s enlargement, which was the work of the Neapolitan architects Fra’ Giuseppe Nuvolo, Francesco Antonio Picchiatti and Giovan Battista Nauclerio, the bell tower was also completed. The tower, designed by Bartolomeo Vecchione, acts as the entrance to the town together with the connecting arch known as Porta Napoli. The church was rebuilt in the nineteenth century following the collapse of the dome. The year 1830 marked the beginning of a transformation of the complex directed since 1842 by Gennaro Gaudiosi, whose grandiose project of rebuilding the structure included the construction of the central staircase and the addition of more rooms. The new complex opened in 1868 and functioned as a hospital until after the Second World War. It currently houses the seat of the Department of Engineering of the University of Campania ‘Luigi Vanvitelli’.