NUNZIATELLA, CEMETERY KNOWN AS "DELLA N."
At the fourth milestone of the Via Ardeatina, near the sanctuary of the N.
In 1877, a Christian hypogeum was discovered there, briefly reported by G. B. De Rossi (*Scoperta d'un piccolo cimitero cristiano adorno di assai antiche pitture presso la chiesa della N. al quarto miglio della Via Ardeatina*, in *Bull. di arch. crist.*, 3rd series, 2 [1877], p. 136; 4th series, 1 [1882], p. 169; 5th series, 3 [1892], p. 28). Perhaps the Christian inscription of a Lucrezia Domitia, placed in the floor of the nearby sanctuary, comes from this cemetery (*M. Armellini, Gli antichi cimiteri cristiani di Roma e d'Italia*, Rome 1893, pp. 394-95). A cubiculum contains the following frescoes from the late 3rd to early 4th century: on the vault, Christ the Judge surrounded by four saints alternating with four praying deceased; on the entrance wall, two saints; on the left wall, Moses striking the rock and the healed paralytic; on the right, the miracle of the leper and the multiplication of the loaves; on the opposite arch, Noah (*Wilpert, Pitture*, pp. 244, 248, 271-72, 318, 372; tavv. 74-75; 76,2; 77,1).
SANCTUARY OF THE N.
At the fourth milestone of the Via Ardeatina, there originally existed a *pagus*, and later a Christian community, with its nearby cemetery (see above). The sanctuary would have been built where the ancient *Silva Naveia* stood, and *Nevia* was said to be a gate of the Servian wall; according to some, the church with its hospital was established for the convenience of pilgrims crossing the Roman countryside to visit the churches of the Ostian and Appian zones: St. Paul’s, the Three Fountains, and St. Sebastian. However, there are no documents relating to the time of the sanctuary’s first construction: an altar table, with crosses scratched by pilgrims, once in the sacristy of the church and now lost, certainly dated back, due to its antiquity, to a time before Honorius III (1216–27), under whose pontificate the church was dedicated in honor of the Virgin and all the saints on 9 August 1220. In 1640, the temple was rebuilt in its current form by Cardinal F. Barberini, who consecrated it on 6 May 1657, as protector of the Archconfraternity of the Gonfalone, which had possessed the church at least since the first half of the 15th century. This is deduced from the inventory of goods from the year 1457, donated to the Company of the Disciplined and Recommended of St. Mary, established there, for the maintenance of the church and its attached hospital.
The church, with a single nave (30 x 7 m), containing five altars, preserves a remnant of a rough Cosmatesque pavement and a small cusped tabernacle of white marble, adorned with mosaic, placed on the left wall near the high altar, above which is a large fresco of the Annunciation (15th century) unfortunately retouched. The external façade, already in the early years of the 17th century, was covered with frescoes: at the top, the Gonfalone insignia with angels and putti; on the door’s frontispiece, the coats of arms of Paul V, Cardinal Aldobrandini (the protector), and the Roman People; on the sides, the apostles Peter and Paul.
The sanctuary enjoyed great fame in the past and was visited by pilgrims who, in addition to the seven traditional churches, included that of SS. Vincenzo and Anastasio at the Three Fountains and this one of the N., considered one of the *ex novem Urbis insignibus*. An inscription from the time of Leo X records a restoration in the year 1518, while the first part recalls the older dedication of the church during the time of Honorius III, with the date 1200 (instead of 1220); it then lists the relics enclosed in the altar; it also mentions, with another date error (1384 instead of 1394), the indulgence granted by Boniface IX (1389–1404) for the feast of the Annunciation on the first Sunday of May.
The church is recorded in the *Catalogo del Signorili* (early 15th century) and in later topographical and archival documents.