The back side of the Hospital

The covered street

This is one of the most suggestive areas of the Hospital. It is the element that unites the built up area. It twists throughout all the levels of the building and it represents the main distribution route of the different functions among the levels of the Hospital.

The "celliere grande" or "cantinone"

It is a long and spacious rectangolar room built up in strong brick walls. Once hundred of different barrells stood in this cellar, where wine and vinegar were preserved.

The washhouse

was located inside the building destined to wet nurses and abondoned children. Hot water and ash were used to do the wash. The laundry was then rinsed with running water, loaded into large baskets and carried to dry in the rooms of the hospital facing the trench of Sant'Ansano.

The seat of the "Compagnia laicale of Saint Girolamo" and "Saint Francesco"

This seat is beyond one of the five gates on the left side of the first part of the internal route. This area was conceded to the Compagnia in 1443 and the oratory was endowed with four altars. After to the suppression of the Compagnia, the Hospital used this oratory to house a school of anatomy and a mortuary.

"Being buried in the Hospital"

The first cemetery of the Hospital was in front of the facade. From the second half of the 13th century the members of the Hospital community and those who left their belongings to the Hospital were buried in the church or in the cemetery areas. The pilgrims who died in the Hospital were buried in mass graves. Over the course of the 15th century the burial zone was moved to the back of the building.

The Charnel House or "Carnaio"

It is a huge mass grave were the victims of the 14th century Plague were buried and covered with quick lime.