Located in Cerete Alto and overlooking Piazza Martiri della Libertà, the Chapel of the Annunciata preserves one of the most striking pictorial cycles of early 16th-century Bergamo culture.
Commissioned by Giovanni Marinoni fu Federighino, who left a provision in his will, it was built between 1503 and 1512 as an extension of the old parish church and was the family’s private chapel.
The Marinoni coat of arms composed of red and white bands surmounted by a rooster holding a flower is still visible on the facade.
The chapel consists of two separate but communicating rooms, both covered with cross vaults: the sacristy and the main hall where there are three sepulchres (for the men, women and children of the Marinoni family), a direct extension of thethe church of Saints Philip and James later demolished in 1725 to obtain the stones needed to build the present one just above.
At least three different painters, attributed to the school of Vincenzo Foppa or that of Giovan Pietro da Cemmo, contributed to the numerous frescoes from different periods on the walls of this chapel, which was completely restored in 1985.
The exterior features various frescoes depicting St. Bernardine of Siena and St. Anthony Abbot, St. Anthony of Padua, St. Roch, St. Sebastian, and St. Catherine of Siena.
Above the entrance door can be seen the scene of the Annunciation to Mary, and in the sub-arch of the entrance the prophets within niches.
Inside are several frescoes dedicated to the life of the Virgin Mary: her birth, marriage, death, and assumption.
There are also frescoes depicting other biblical episodes such as the Adoration of the Magi and various saints such as St. Peter, St. Paul or the four evangelists with their symbols and the Fathers of the Church.
Completing the construction is the bell tower that was part of the old parish church.
In the square in front of the chapel, the outline of the Church of Saints Philip and James, before the 18th-century demolition, which spared, precisely, only the Chapel of the Annunciata.
To the east is a small niche with a crucifixion dated 1421: it housed the main altar of the original church, before it was enlarged in the 16th century and turned by making the Chapel of the Annunciata the main chancel.