Spedale degli Innocenti, Florence

Spedale degli Innocenti is the historic foundling hospital designed by Filippo Brunelleschi for Florence’s Silk Guild. The long façade before you presents a nine-bay loggia, with rounded arches resting on columns and ceramic medallions showing swaddled babies. Those images were made by Andrea della Robbia and connect the decoration directly to the building’s original purpose.

The design belongs to early Renaissance architecture, and its calm order comes from measured relationships: each bay forms a square, while grey stone details stand out against pale walls. The building began in 1419, but Brunelleschi supervised only the initial phase, completed by 1427; later work raised the upper storey and enlarged the complex. The hospital finally opened in 1445.

Its history is especially moving at the entrance. A basin once received abandoned infants; in 1660, it was replaced by a rotating wheel that allowed a baby to be brought inside anonymously. That system continued until 1875.

The institution cared for children, arranged nursing and education, taught boys trades, and prepared girls for domestic work or religious life. Today the complex contains the Museum of the Innocents and UNICEF research offices, continuing a long connection with children’s welfare. The baby medallions remain the clearest visible sign of that purpose.