The Palazzo dell’Annunziata is a majestic building located in Piazza Vittorio Veneto in Matera.
The date of construction is 1735, as can be read on the architrave of one of the entrances to the monastery. The architect Vito Valentino di Bitonto is in charge of the project; in 1734 the project is ready and in 1735 the works begin. The front part rests on the 16th century tower, belonging to the fortifications of Count Tramontano. The works proceeded at full speed until 1739, when Valentino was replaced by Mauro Manieri of Lecce, after internal friction. In 1747 the Dominican nuns took possession of the monastery. In 1844 the engineer Gaetano di Giorgio built the church of the Annunziata in the central courtyard of the monastic complex. In 1861 the monastery was suppressed and the goods were transferred to the municipal property.
The complex, now orphaned, becomes partly the seat of the Court and judicial offices and partly the seat of the middle school. In the early 1900’s the clock that completes the main facade was placed on the cornice. After the earthquake of 1980, the judicial offices and the middle school were moved to other buildings, given the dangerous situation of the former convent. Now in total decay, in 1993 it was restored and on 14 May 1998, in the presence of the President of the Council of Ministers, Romano Prodi, the provincial library, located inside, was inaugurated.
Founded in 1933, based in Via Don Minzoni, then in Via San Rocco, in the Malvinni-Malvezzi palace in Piazza Duomo and the Cappuccini districts, the provincial library "Tommaso Stigliani", then finds its final seat. Inside, in addition to the important and vast collection of books and manuscripts, there was an important numismatic collection.
The old church has been used as a municipal cinema; and inside the building there is the provincial media library.
