Chiesa e Ospedale di

Sant' Egidio (1321)

This complex belonged to the Collegio della Mercanzia. 

• The arms on the facade of the hospice (a griffin on bales of cloth) are those of the Collegio della Mercanzia.
  

• An inscription inside records its original construction in the time of its first prior, Andreuccio di Stefano in the time of Pope John XXII (1316-34).

• The inscription above the portal of the hospice (number 84) refers to it as a “domus pauperum” and records its restoration in 1507. 

The church, which was restored in 1793, is now used as an artist's workshop.

Works of Art Removed from the Complex

Madonna della Misercordia (1476)

This fresco was detached from a wall in the hospice and moved to the Galleria Nazionale (Room 15/16) in 1870.  Two lost inscriptions, one that was under the fresco and another that was in the sacristy, both of which were still visible in the 19th century, recorded that the work was commissioned from Fiorenzo di Lorenzo in 1476 by the prior, Canon Galeotti during an outbreak of plague.  This is the earliest surviving work that can be securely attributed to this artist.

The fresco depicts the Virgin sheltering members of theCollegio della Mercanzia and inmates from the hospice under her cloak.  The large figure to the left is probably Canon Galeotti.  God the Father looks down as two angels appear to crown the Virgin: it is likely that they originally held a golden crown that has been lost.