The new church was erected, with the patronage of the ducal power, to make up for the suppression of the church and convent of the same name outside Porta Nuova, which had taken place at the time of the 'tagliata' wanted by Pier Luigi Farnese, and to exert a stronger hold on the popular element. The accentuated external movement of the walls does not forebode the calmness one encounters when entering the high portico of the church. The organ built in 1805 by Giuseppe Serassi, the 18th century choir stalls, the black stone that tradition says was used by St Francis of Assisi, small in stature, to speak to the faithful during his visit to Parma, the stories from the life of St Peter of Alcantara by Pier Ilario Spolverini and the delicate monochrome paintings by Sebastiano Galeotti, are but a few of the treasures hidden in the great bulk of the temple that ended up representing, already at the beginning of the 17th century, the equivalent in terms of ecclesiastical and convent building of the monumental complex of the Pilotta located on the other side of the Parma stream.
The Convent of the SS. Annunziata is known for the apostolate of Father Lino Maupas, in whose name the friars and the parish still dedicate themselves to charitable services. In addition to Father Lino's room, with his bed, his poor belongings, his breviary and rosary, his sandals worn out by perennial walking, relics, photographs and documents, the Franciscan monastery also holds an extraordinary historical and artistic heritage. Among the many works worth discovering are the Sacristy, with austere walnut furniture from the 16th century that holds precious reliquaries and vestments from the 17th and 18th centuries, the Old Chapter House with frescoes from the Emilian school of the late 16th century and the two wooden doors, attributed to the school of Alessandro Vandone, that lead from the corridors of the Chapter House to the monumental 17th-century cloister, an oasis of peace and serenity immersed in the heart of Oltretorrente. The western side of the cloister leads to the Ancient Refectory and, on the ground floor, to the Chapel for the convalescent and the ancient Convent Library, with its holdings consisting of more than 15,000 volumes, valuable 17th-century Dutch geographical atlases, elegant Bodoniana books, scientific and medical texts, musical works, Papal Bulls and notarial documents, the fruit and testimony of the activity of the scholars who were present for centuries inside the convent of SS. Annunziata.