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Coordinates: Latitude N Longitude E Altitude: 721 m above sea level
Inhabitants: tufaroli
Telephone code: 0736 Postcode: 63096 Position: The town is 721 metres above sea level on the northern slope of the River Tronto and marks the western border with Lazio. Place name: The town owes its name to the presence of sandstone rock erroneously called Tufa, used for stone buildings. However a legendary past indirectly surrounds this little hamlet: it was in fact identified with the ancient place called Vicus ad Martis, the probable summer residence of the Flavia family as well as the birth place of the Roman emperors Vespasian and Tito. Places of interest: Among the buildings of greater historical interest is: CHURCH OF SS. ANNUNZIATA History: The church is in the territory of Arquata del Tronto, province of Ascoli Piceno, to which it has belonged since 1852 when, under the exchange made between Pope Pius IX and Ferdinand II King of the Two Sicilies, the church, which had been part of Accumuli (Aquila) until then, was ceded to the Diocese of Ascoli Piceno. The church took the name of “S.S. Annunziata”, but from the birth certificates of the same Parish it appears that originally it had the name “S. Giovanni Battista Precursore del Signore”. In fact, the title page starting in the year 1746 reads “LIBER BAPT. ECCLESIAE PAROCHIALIS S. JOANNY VILLA TUFI”. The first person to call it “S.S. Annunziata” was Don Nicola Smargiassi on 19th July 1851. There is no certain information on the epoch of the foundation of the same, but it seems that in the XVI century it already existed, as an inscription on a stone in the sacristy reveals (1555). Position: The building is situated within the town. It has only one door, which faces west, whilst in front of it there is a small square. The church is flanked on both sides by roads. Architecture: Rectangular in shape. The entrance is in the middle of the front with steps up to it. The façade is completed with a cornice, in the middle of which is a glass rose window depicting a cross. The bell tower is on the eastern side. The inside of the church is not the original, but the result of retouching and restoration carried out in the 1920s and 1960s.On the left-hand side is the font. The roof has two protected gutters. The sacristy is behind the high altar and separated from it by a wall with two side apertures. The sacristy is on two floors: the ground floor is used as the sacristy and the top floor was used in the past to teach catechism. The upper floor is reached by an open door in the northern wall. Photos:
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