150.

Chiesa e Monastero di S. Maria Annunziata, delle Suore Domenicane Neofite

The companion view of Plate 150A depicts the S. Maria Annunziata and its convent and shows three medieval windows, which gave light to the church, pierced through the second level of the back wall of the Forum of Augustus (1) which Vasi erroneously calls the Forum of Nerva. Below them is a Renaissance doorway which was the public entrance to the conventual church. In the foreground a carriage is about to pass through the Arco del Pantano (3) opening onto Via Bonella, the major cross axis of the planned neighborhood of Pantano built between 1567 and 1570 under Pius V Ghislieri (1566-1572). Visible above the arch are the remaining columns of the Temple of Mars Ultor (1) in the Forum of Augustus and the 12th century bell tower of the Annunziata (2). The low building at the end of the massive wall of Augustus' Forum is the House of the Knights of Rhodes, which was built on the side wall of that Forum and over part of the Forum of Trajan. Nolli refers to the space in front of it as Piazza del Grillo (NN 127), a reference to the 17th century Palazzo del Grillo (4) which spans the climbing street (Salita del Grillo NN 129). The palazzo is built against the 13th century tower, which as Vasi points out, originally belonged to the Conti family, which dominated this area since the late Middle Ages. Further right is the Torre delle Milizie which belonged to the Caetani in the 14th century.