The Church of Santa Maria Annunziata - better known as the “Church of the Little Madonna” - was built in 1585 by the Brotherhood of the "Compagnia dei Battuti," which had occupied that site since 1260, initially managing a hospital with a "wheel for foundlings" on behalf of the Magnificent Community of Este.
In 1845, Giuseppe Riccoboni (1820-1894), a prolific self-taught architect from Este, worked on the restoration of the facade, completely redesigning it and giving it the appearance still visible today.
Initially used as a parish center connected to the nearby Cine-Teatro Famiglia, during the Second World War the church was deconsecrated and used as a warehouse and storage, suffering the collapse of the roof and a long period of total abandonment, until 1967 when, inside - now empty - a makeshift wooden structure covered with concrete slabs was erected.
The recent restoration completed in 2015 involved the consolidation of the masonry, the restoration of the architectural and decorative elements in Vicenza stone and Euganean trachyte, and the reconstruction of the plaster based on the scant traces found of the original 16th-century marmorino plaster.
