After a two-year renovation, the historic headquarters of the Misericordia in piazza Duomo has reopened its museum displaying artefacts from the charitable organization’s 700-year history.
Florence’s Misericordia Museum displays 700 years of the charitable institution’s history
The 14-room museum’s collection of furniture, manuscripts and items of everyday use charts the course of the Misericordia’s past role during plague and cholera epidemics and its services today. Its numerous artworks also reflect the generosity of donors since the charity’s founding in 1244.
The renovation highlights the Misericordia’s art collection, which includes such important pieces as Pietro Annigoni’s St. Jerome the Penitent, Carlo Dolci’s St. John the Baptist, Della Robbia terracottas and Dirck van Baburen’s Christ Amongst the Doctors, which is shortly to travel to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and then to the Louvre.
The museum’s new layout, designed by architecture firm Noferi-Locorotondo, includes space in which to screen four films that bring to life major events in the history of Florence, such as the plague epidemic of 1348 described in Boccaccio’s Decameron, and the critical role played by the Arciconfraternita, the group that formed the Misericordia.
The museum is open Monday–Friday, 10am–noon and 3–5pm; Saturday 10am–noon. Entrance is free (donations welcome). For more information, visit the Misericordia’s website.
