Sant'Andrea Avellino, seconda casa dei padri teatini a Messina (1727-1908)

Sant’Andrea Avellino, second house of Theatine fathers in Messina (1727-1908) The Regular Theatines Clerics settled in Messina at the beginning of the 17th century, founding the first house of the Santissima Annunziata. In 1727, after more than a hundred years, the foundation of the second house was authorized. Sant’Andrea Avellino was built on the plain of San Giovanni, overlooked by the church of the Sovereign Military Hospitaller of San Giovanni and the Jesuit College of Jesus and Mary. The Theatine houses, similar to most of the city, were destroyed in the 1908 earthquake. Although no trace remains of both foundations, the first house enjoys undisputed fame due to the presence of the young Guarino Guarini who contributed to the completion of the building site. Construction of Sant’ Avellino had gone on for over a century and its history now can only be told through the surviving printed sources and archival documents. The reading of the surviving archive documents kept at the Generalate of Sant’Andrea della Valle in Rome and further sources can help recompose the complex events of an important city building site to contribute to the knowledge of a further fragment of the great puzzle of an 'invisible' city.