Broken Coins of the Innocents

This content is only available in English.
Please suggest a new version in your language.
The Hospital of the Innocents in Piazza Santissima Annunziata takes it unusual name from being the refuge for abandoned babies. The hospital was built thanks to a donation of an important merchant from Prato, Francesco Datini. It was the first orphanage which specialized in receiving newborn babies in Europe.

Babies were left anonymously, placed on a wheel that acted like a revolving door, delivering the child through a small window of the orphanage. Mothers often left objects along with the babies, in hopes of a future reunion with their children; often these were medals or coins broken in half, one half staying with the child, and another staying with the mother. It was hoped that the children, once grown, could be reunited with their mothers, reuniting the two halves of the coin.

That wheel was in operation until 1875.
The orphaned children had another sign of recognition too: their name. In fact, until the nineteenth century, abandoned children were given the surname Innocenti, Degl’Innocenti or Nocentini. It was only in the 1900s that it was decided to give abandoned children fanciful surnames, so as to avoid revealing their origin.
Today it is possible to see some of these broken coins and the other special objects left behind in the museum in the former Hospital of the Innocents.

Este artículo también está disponible en: Inglés Italiano Francés Alemán Portugués, Portugal Ruso