"On his deathbed in 1410, the wealthy merchant of Prato, Francesco Datini, resolved to atone for his sins by bequeathing the huge sum of 1,000 florins to the Florentine hospital of Santa Maria Nuova. Orphaned during the Black Death, he left explicit instructions that the money should be used to create a home "for those abandoned and cast away". So begins the story of Europe's first foundling hospital, the Ospedale degli Innocenti, examined afresh in this fascinating new book."
"Founded by the Florentine Silk Weavers Guild in 1419 using Datini's legacy, the Innocenti accepted the first of its gittatelli ("thrown-aways") in 1445, taking in nearly 400,000 such children up to the 1970s. As Joseph Luzzi, a professor of literature at New York's Bard College notes, it is often thought of as an orphanage, but it was not actually given this designation until the late 19th century after becoming a public charity."
"The first two chapters focus on its founding and construction, starting with Datini's late-life spiritual crisis, and the commissioning of Florence's star architect, Filippo Brunelleschi (1377-1446) to design the institution's magnificent extended portico, or loggia. This dominates the piazza of Santissima Annunziata, the classically proportioned arches giving a sense of order that signalled, writes Luzzi, "a transition from chaos to harmony" for the children who entered."
Francesco Datini left funds to create a home "for those abandoned and cast away," enabling the foundation of the Ospedale degli Innocenti. The Florentine Silk Weavers Guild established the institution in 1419 and the Innocenti took in its first foundlings in 1445. The hospital received nearly 400,000 abandoned children up to the 1970s, many left by unmarried mothers due to poverty or shame, sometimes with identifying tokens. Filippo Brunelleschi designed the institution's loggia, whose classically proportioned arches conveyed order and shelter. The institution only received the label "orphanage" in the late 19th century after becoming a public charity.
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