Mole Vanvitelliana, Ancona

The Mole Vanvitelliana, also known as the Lazzaretto, is a vast pentagonal building rising on an artificial island in the harbour of Ancona, in the Marche region on the Adriatic coast. It was commissioned in 1732 by Pope Clement XII and designed by the great Neapolitan architect Luigi Vanvitelli, with construction running from 1733 to 1743. Its original purpose was as a quarantine station, a lazzaretto where ships, crews and goods arriving from across the Mediterranean could be isolated to guard the port city against plague and other epidemics, a vital function in an age of expanding maritime trade. The five-sided plan, surrounded by water and originally reached only by drawbridge, allowed the complete separation of the quarantined from the city, while a small temple to San Rocco, protector against plague, stood at its centre. Built of warm brick, the building combines military rationality with the elegance of eighteenth-century design, its arcaded courtyards and long galleries lending it a severe beauty. Over the centuries the Mole served many roles, including as a military hospital, a sugar refinery and a tobacco warehouse, before falling into neglect. Restored in recent decades, it has been reborn as one of Ancona's principal cultural venues, hosting art exhibitions, festivals, concerts and conferences within its atmospheric halls. It is also home to the Museo Tattile Statale Omero, the celebrated state tactile museum. Standing close to the Arch of Trajan along the same stretch of waterfront, the Mole Vanvitelliana is both a monument to the city's maritime past and a living space for contemporary culture.