Museo degli Innocenti

The Museo degli Innocenti is housed in the Ospedale degli Innocenti, designed by Filippo Brunelleschi and built between 1419 and 1445 as Europe's first purpose-built foundling hospital, commissioned by the Silk Guild of Florence to care for abandoned children. Its arcaded loggia facing Piazza Santissima Annunziata, with slender Corinthian columns and Andrea della Robbia's glazed terracotta roundels of swaddled infants added later in the 1480s, is considered one of the foundational buildings of Renaissance architecture, marking a decisive break from Gothic forms through its use of classical proportion, round arches, and mathematical modularity. The institution operated continuously as a childcare facility for nearly six centuries, and the museum's collection and displays combine art history with the social history of childhood and abandonment in Florence. Galleries hold Renaissance paintings commissioned for the hospital's chapels, including works by Domenico Ghirlandaio, Sandro Botticelli's workshop, and Luca della Robbia, alongside archival material such as the wheel (ruota) once used for anonymous infant abandonment and tokens left by parents hoping to reclaim children later. The museum's 2016 renovation opened previously inaccessible spaces, including a rooftop terrace overlooking Florence's historic center and the original women's dormitory. The curatorial approach interweaves the building's architectural history, its art collection, and its function as a working children's charity, which continues today through UNICEF's Innocenti research center headquartered on the site. Restoration work has preserved Brunelleschi's original facade and courtyard largely intact while adapting interior spaces for modern museum display and conservation standards.