Ospedale S. M. della Scala

(Santa Maria della Scala Hospital)
Just opposite the steps of the imposing Duomo, Santa Maria Della Scala was one of the first hospitals in Europe and one of the oldest surviving hospitals in the world. It was originally founded to help and house the pilgrims traveling on the Via Francigena, as well as to feed and cure the sick, the poor and orphans.

From as far back as 1193 the hospital served many philanthropic purposes. It provided meals for the poor three times a week. Pilgrims were given free room and board in sex-segregated dormitories, as well as vouchers for food & drink in Sienese territories once they continued on their way. Orphans were given a wet nurse, and meticulous records were kept throughout their lives in case their parents ever returned to collect them. Children were fed and cared for, at age 8 they began learning a trade, all their earnings were kept for them, at 18 they could leave the hospital with all of their earnings plus a set of clothes, furnishings for a home, a small stipend, and for girls 50 lire for a dowry.

The hospital was innovative for its day, providing a bed with clean linens for every patient, not to mention feeding and cleaning each of the patients. It was run primarily by donations from wealthy patrons and by profits from its massive land holdings.

Over the course of centuries the hospital grew taking over many buildings, a chapel and a church. In the mid 1300s numerous frescoes were commissioned for both the interior and exterior. Only the interior ones remain, and unfortunately not all of them in good condition, but visit the large Pilgrims’ Hall with its series of frescoes by Domenico di Bartolo, Lorenzo Vecchietta and Priamo della Quercia, and you can almost imagine this room as it once was, filled with rows of beds lining the walls, where pilgrims slept under these remarkable frescoes. The frescoes have been restored and show vibrant scenes from hospital life: feeding the poor, washing the sick, etc.

It is incredible to believe that these beautiful artistic masterpieces decorated a working hospital into the post-world war II era. Now a working museum, the massive complex is still undergoing restoration.

It is divided into many sections including: a frescoed antechamber which still displays a stone plaque for the eye-care ward, the large pilgrims hall with its famous frescoes, a frescoed chapel, a church, extensive tunnels, decorative altarpieces, a collection of pottery and ancient coins that go back to the Etruscan era, and a museum for the Contrade of Siena which displays the flags of each Contrada.

This post is also available in: Italian