Church of Annunziata al Carmine

Churches, Culture
Piazza Carlo Alberto - 95131 Catania
+39 095 7152418

    Monday to Saturday from 8.00 to 12.00
    Saturday and Sunday from 16.30 to 19.00

    The presence of Carmelites in Catania dates back to the first half of the 18th century, when they arrive in Sicily from the Carmelo Mount of Palestine. Here they founded a convent using a little 8th-century church devoted to St. Lucia, which was the temporary place of St. Agatha burial. The Carmelites church has benefited of privileges and a special protection by the Swabian family. This is why this church is the only one that shows off its crest enriched by the insignia of the Swabian family who lived in Sicily: the eagle with two crowned heads you can still admire on the apse of the main altar.
    The church and all its treasure were destroyed by the earthquake in 1693. The prospectus of the church and of the convent we can admire today were built in 1729.

    In 1886 the convent was expropriated; the church, instead, was consecrated in 1880. And in 1988 it was declared Minor Basilica.