The Loggia del Bigallo is a late

Gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...

building in

Florence Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico an ...

, region of Tuscany,

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

. It stands at the corner of

Piazza San Giovanni Piazza San Giovanni is a city square in Florence, Italy. Buildings around the square * Florence Baptistery * Palazzo Arcivescovile, Florence * Torre dei Lodi Focardi Marignolli *Opera di San Giovanni Opera is a form of theatre in which m ...

and via Calzaioli; tradition holds the site near the Baptistry of Florence was donated by a benefactor.

History

This building is one of a dozen public

loggia In architecture, a loggia ( , usually , ) is a covered exterior gallery or corridor, usually on an upper level, but sometimes on the ground level of a building. The outer wall is open to the elements, usually supported by a series of columns ...

s in the city, and is linked with two fraternities or companies dealing with local charity. The ''Compagnia della Misericordia'', or "Company of Mercy", was concerned with the transport of the sick, burial of the indigent dead, as well as the care of orphans. The open loggia served to shelter lost children and unwanted infants who were abandoned to the care of the brotherhood, The ''Compagnia di Santa Maria del Bigallo'' or simply ''del Bigallo'', was founded in 1244 by Saint Peter of Verona, Saint Peter Martyr, and was formerly housed near

Orsanmichele Orsanmichele (; "Kitchen Garden of St. Michael", from the Tuscan contraction of the Italian word ''orto'') is a church in the Italian city of Florence. The building was constructed on the site of the kitchen garden of the monastery of San Michel ...

. This group focused on the housing of the indigent, and also cared for pilgrims and travellers at their Ospedale di Santa Maria alle Fonti, nicknamed "del Bigallo", at Fonteviva. Financial irregularities forced the authorities in 1425, under Cosimo de'Medici, treasurer of the Bigallo, to merge the two groups, and reorganize the structure. As time passed, the function of the Bigallo began to dominate that of the ''Misericordia''. However, it was the ''Compagnia della Misericordia'' which had commissioned the structure we see, probably from the architect-sculptor Alberto Arnoldi; it was built in 1352–58. The second story was rebuilt after a fire in 1442. Its two arched bays are richly decorated with

bas-relief Relief is a sculptural method in which the sculpted pieces are bonded to a solid background of the same material. The term ''relief'' is from the Latin verb ''relevo'', to raise. To create a sculpture in relief is to give the impression that the ...

s of prophets, angels, the Virtues, a Christ giving the benediction and an '' Ecce Homo''. In 1697, the arches were walled-up in order to provide more space for the oratory that is attached to the loggia; the masonry was removed in 1889, revealing the long-hidden decoration.

Mullioned windows A mullion is a vertical element that forms a division between units of a window or screen, or is used decoratively. It is also often used as a division between double doors. When dividing adjacent window units its primary purpose is a rigid supp ...

pierce the walls of the floor above, which was originally richly frescoed. and three tabernacles, the work of Filippo di Cristofano, 1412, frame the

Madonna and Child In art, a Madonna () is a representation of Mary, either alone or with her child Jesus. These images are central icons for both the Catholic and Orthodox churches. The word is (archaic). The Madonna and Child type is very prevalent in ...

Saint Lucy Lucia of Syracuse (283–304), also called Saint Lucia ( la, Sancta Lucia) better known as Saint Lucy, was a Roman Christian martyr who died during the Diocletianic Persecution. She is venerated as a saint in the Catholic, Anglican, Lutheran, ...

and Saint Peter Martyr, patron of the brotherhood. The mid-14th century statues were installed here when the two confraternities joined in 1425. The interior contains a

museum A museum ( ; plural museums or, rarely, musea) is a building or institution that cares for and displays a collection of artifacts and other objects of artistic, cultural, historical, or scientific importance. Many public museums make these ...

of objects related to the Confraternita della Misericordia and the Compagnia del Bigallo.

Notes

Sources

*Touring Club Italiano, (1964) ''Firenze e dintorni'', 109f. {{Authority control Loggias in Florence Buildings and structures completed in 1358 Museums in Florence Gothic architecture in Florence