The church and oratory of the Santissima Annunziata (Most Holy Announcement) is the most important monumental building in Riofreddo and is located right at the entrance to the town along the ancient Via Tiburtina Valeria.
The simple oratory is incredibly decorated with frescoes representing the story of Jesus and fake tapestries with a style that recalls Giotto and international gothic. The name of the authors of the works is not well known, among which there is also an artist called Master of Riofreddo.
The decoration was carried out by order of the Colonna family during the pontificate of Pope Martin V Colonna di Genazzano to announce to the faithful the end of the Western Schism in 1420. For the definition of the subjects and themes to be treated, Antonio Colonna availed himself the assistance of philosophers and theologians expert in Eastern doctrine.
Once this church was the chapel of the medieval hospital which performed these functions for many centuries with ups and downs. The last period of splendor was when the last son of Giuseppe Garibaldi came to live in Riofreddo with his wife Costanza who was a nurse and decided to set up an emergency room to serve the residents of the village and neighboring towns.
Today the Riofreddo hospital has been transformed into the town hall.
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