Maps and images of the Lucca hospital complex (Ospedale San Luca / Regi Spedali / Palazzo Galli Tassi)
Compiled 2026-10-17. Present-day site: Palazzo Galli Tassi (courthouse), Via Galli Tassi / Piazzale San Donato / Via San Paolino, Lucca. Coordinates are about 43.8444 N, 10.4989 E (Wikipedia gives 43 50 39.7 N, 10 29 56.1 E).
For the analysis of where the foundling service and ruota were, see studies/notes_location_brefotrofio_ruota.md.
Orientation: the street names changed
Section titled “Orientation: the street names changed”| Today | Older names on the maps |
|---|---|
| Via San Paolino, west end | Via di Porta S. Donato (catasto) |
| Via Galli Tassi | Via S. Pellegrino (1820 plan, catasto) |
| Via Vittorio Emanuele II, west end | Via della Rotonda (1820 plan) |
| Piazzale Giuseppe Verdi | Prato, Prato del Corso, Anfiteatro delle Corse |
The complex had two parts:
- Men’s hospital (south block). South of Via San Paolino, between the Piazzale and Piazza/Via del Crocifisso.
- Women’s hospital / S. Giustina (north block). North of Via San Paolino, west of Via Galli Tassi. This block was rebuilt as the Galli Tassi complex around 1870.
city_plans/
Section titled “city_plans/”| File | What it is | Source URL | License |
|---|---|---|---|
lucca_pianta_c1820_bnf_btv1b65000212.jpg |
Engraved plan, signed “Gaet. Nerici fe. 1820”, with a numbered legend: 7 Ospedale per le Donne e Orfanotrofio dei Fanciulli; 8 Orfanotrofio delle Donne d.o di S. Giustina; 9 Ospedale per gli Uomini. BnF Ge D 2587. | https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Lucca_-_btv1b65000212.jpg (original at gallica.bnf.fr ark btv1b65000212) | Public domain |
lucca_pianta_1820_bnf_DETAIL_legend7-9_ospedali_san_giustina.jpg |
My crop of the plan above, showing nos. 7, 8 and 9 around Via S. Paolino | derived from the file above | Public domain |
lucca_pianta_1820_bnf_DETAIL_legend.jpg |
My crop of the legend of the same plan | derived | Public domain |
lucca_plan_de_lucques_19c_bnf_btv1b84424821.jpg |
“Plan de Lucques”, engraved (Commons dates it 19th c.; it may be late 18th c.), with a “Table des Renvois”: 39 S. Luca, Spedale della Miseric., 40 Monache di S. Caterina, 33 Palazzo Mansi | https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Plan_de_Lucques_-_btv1b84424821.jpg | Public domain |
lucca_plan_de_lucques_19c_bnf_DETAIL_no39_spedale_san_luca.jpg |
My crop around no. 39 | derived | Public domain |
lucca_pianta_parrocchie_c1720_bnf_btv1b531004737_3840px.jpg |
“Pianta della Citta di Lucca divisa in Parocchie”, c.1720, scale about 1:2400. Downloaded as the 3840 px Commons thumbnail; the full file is 10312 px. | https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Pianta_della_Citta_di_Lucca_divisa_in_Parocchie_-_btv1b531004737.jpg | Public domain |
lucca_pianta_1893_baedeker_northern_italy.jpg |
Baedeker Northern Italy 1893 plan, 1:16,000. The hospital is not labelled; it lies just inside the old Porta S. Donato, next to the “Anfiteatro delle Corse”. | https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Italy-_a_handbook_for_travellers._First_Part_(Nothern_Italy)_(1893)_(14595039097).jpg | No known copyright restrictions (Internet Archive Book Images / Emory) |
lucca_pianta_1896_black_riviera.jpg |
J. Bartholomew plan in C.B. Black, The Riviera (1896). Shows Via S. Paolino and Via Vittorio Emanuele; the hospital is not labelled. | https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_Riviera_-_or,_The_coast_from_Marseilles_to_Leghorn,_including_the_interior_towns_of_Carrara,_Lucca,_Pisa,_and_Pistoia_(1896)_(14579127599).jpg | No known copyright restrictions |
lucca_pianta_1926_corbellini.webp |
Touring Club Italiano plan, 1:12,000 (P. Corbellini, 1926). Labels “Osped. Civile” twice, north and south of Via S. Paolino, plus “V. Galli Tassi”, “Pal. Mansi” and “Via S. Giustina”. This is the closest-dated plan to 1901 that names the hospital. | https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Lucca_1926.webp | Public domain (per Commons tag) |
_(1893)_(14595039097).jpg){kind=link}
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catasto_castore/
Section titled “catasto_castore/”These come from the Catasto Borbonico di Lucca, “Mappa della Città di Lucca”, scale 1:1000, held at the Archivio di Stato di Lucca (Catasto Vecchio, Faldone 6). The CASTORE record gives “Anno 1873” and describes the sheets as corrected and updated. Lucca was not part of the Leopoldine cadastre, so this is the city’s own cadastre.
The images were taken from the Regione Toscana CASTORE public viewer, using the IIPImage server behind the official “smartviewer”:
- Overview images:
https://www502.regione.toscana.it/cartografia_storica_regionale_gi/cgi-bin/iipsrv.fcgi?FIF=lvCastore01/castore/<id>.tif&WID=1000&CVT=jpeg - Full and half resolution: stitched from 256 px tiles (
&JTL=<res>,<tile>). - Metadata pages:
https://www502.regione.toscana.it/castoreapp/0_viewer.jsp?tipo=report&id=<ID>
Credit line: “Progetto CASTORE - Regione Toscana e Archivi di Stato toscani”. Reuse terms: images of state-archive documents may be reproduced freely for personal study and research under Italian law (Codice dei beni culturali art. 108, c.3-bis). Credit the source. I did not find a formal open license for CASTORE images.
| File | Sheet | Notes |
|---|---|---|
lucca_catasto_citta_sez_C3_foglio2_182C302I_full_halfres.jpg |
Sez. C3, Foglio 2 (ID 182C302I, parcels 1060-1854; ASLu segn. “Lucca 3 - 2 - n. 151”) | Porta S. Donato, Bastione S. Donato, “Prato del Corso” oval, and the south (men’s) hospital block with Piazza del Crocifisso. Half resolution, 3901x2968; the original is 7801x5935. |
lucca_catasto_citta_sez_C3_foglio2_DETAIL_ospedale_fullres.jpg |
same sheet, full-res crop | Parcels 1080-1113: the S. Luca church (grey, 1080, at the corner of Via di Porta S. Donato / Via S. Paolino) and the hospital buildings 1105-1112, west of Piazza del Crocifisso. Across the piazza is the Crocifisso dei Bianchi complex (1116-1123). South of the next street is the block 1553-1575 (Manifattura Tabacchi area). |
lucca_catasto_citta_sez_C3_foglio1_182C301I_full_halfres.jpg |
Sez. C3, Foglio 1 (ID 182C301I, parcels 1-1059; “Lucca 3 - 1 - n. 150”) | NW quarter including the north block (S. Giustina and the future Galli Tassi). Half resolution, 3906x2986. |
lucca_catasto_citta_sez_C3_foglio1_DETAIL_santa_giustina_galli_tassi_fullres.jpg |
same sheet, full-res crop | The block bounded by Via di Porta S. Donato (S), “Via S. Pellegrino” (= Via Galli Tassi, E), Via S. Tommaso (N) and Via del Prato di Porta S. Donato (W). Contents: church and cloister 924-926 (S. Giustina area), large buildings 930/904/896, and long wings 980-992 along the Prato. |
Other sheets of the city map, not downloaded: 182A301I-A303I, 182B301I-B302I, 182C303I (SW quarter: Piazza S. Romano, Via della Fonderia).
photos/
Section titled “photos/”| File | Subject | Source URL | License / author |
|---|---|---|---|
palazzo_galli_tassi_facciata_piazzale_san_donato_naioli_2022.jpg |
Rear-wing pavilion of Palazzo Galli Tassi on Piazzale San Donato | https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Lucca,_palazzo_Galli_Tassi,_facciata_su_piazzale_San_Donato.jpg | CC BY-SA 4.0, Naioli |
palazzo_galli_tassi_facciata2_piazzale_san_donato_naioli_2022.jpg |
Second view of the same front | https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Lucca,_palazzo_Galli_Tassi,_facciata_2_su_piazzale_San_Donato.jpg | CC BY-SA 4.0, Naioli |
palazzo_galli_tassi_lucca_stemma_vigili_naioli_2022.jpg |
Coat of arms on the wing used by the vigili urbani | https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Lucca,_palazzo_Galli_Tassi,_sede_vigili_urbani,_stemma.jpg | CC BY-SA 4.0, Naioli |
palazzo_galli_tassi_lucca_korom_2017_0026.jpg |
The complex seen from Piazzale San Donato / Via San Paolino: corner pavilion and long wing | https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Lucca_0026_(50670676648).jpg | CC BY-SA 2.0, Dr. János Korom |
palazzo_galli_tassi_lucca_korom_2017_0031.jpg |
“Comune di Lucca - Servizi Demografici” (Anagrafe) entrance, which is the former women’s section | https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Lucca_0031_(50671502302).jpg | CC BY-SA 2.0, Dr. János Korom |
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I found no public-domain historic postcards of the “Ospedale” on Commons. The Commons photos named “Palazzo galli tassi, ext/cortile/scalone …” (by Sailko) show the Florence palazzo of the same name, so I deleted them after downloading.
studies/
Section titled “studies/”| File | What it is | Source URL | License |
|---|---|---|---|
trenta_1820_guida_del_forestiere_lucca_IA_guidadelforestie00tren.pdf |
[T. Trenta], Guida del forestiere per la città e il contado di Lucca, Lucca, F. Baroni, 1820. About p. 13: the hospice of the esposti was “contiguo all’Ospedale”. About p. 63: description of the Spedale della Misericordia. | https://archive.org/details/guidadelforestie00tren | Public domain (1820). Internet Archive scan. |
mazzarosa_1843_guida_di_lucca_IA_guidadiluccaede00mazzgoog.pdf |
A. Mazzarosa, Guida di Lucca e dei luoghi più importanti del ducato, Lucca, Giusti, 1843. Pages 81-87 cover the men’s hospital entrance facing the Crocifisso dei Bianchi, the hospice of the esposti joined to the men’s hospital, the separate place where newborn foundlings were received before going to wet-nurses, the Prato, and S. Giustina (girls and esposte). | https://archive.org/details/guidadiluccaede00mazzgoog | Public domain (1843). Google-digitized scan, so Google’s usage guidelines ask for non-commercial use. |
cortina_2025_insegnadelgiglio_01.pdf |
C. Cortina, “L’area dell’ex Ospedale San Luca a Lucca: revisione stratigrafica sulla base del dato ceramico”, Archeologica Data V.2 (2025), pp. 13ff, DOI 10.13131/UNIPI/HHHR-QB18. Has a location figure (fig. 1) and excavation plans (figs. 2-4) of the hotel San Luca building on the south side of Via San Paolino. | https://www.insegnadelgiglio.it/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/01-Cortina.pdf | Free PDF from the publisher; copyright author/publisher; saved for personal research. |
notes_location_brefotrofio_ruota.md |
My synthesis of where the foundling service was (verified versus inferred) | n/a | n/a |
Pages read but not saved
Section titled “Pages read but not saved”All accessed 2026-10-17. Key facts only; quotes are under 15 words.
- Museo Galileo, “Antico Ospedale di San Luca o della Misericordia”.
- URL: https://brunelleschi.imss.fi.it/itinerari/luogo/AnticoOspedaleSanLucaMisericordia.html
- Address given: “Complesso ex Galli Tassi, Via San Paolino”.
- The male section had “le infermerie, i ricoveri per i trovatelli e gli oratori” and lay between Piazzale G. Verdi, Via San Paolino and Via Vittorio Emanuele.
- The female section is now the Anagrafe comunale.
- Bibliography: Repetti 1835 vol. 2 pp. 901-902; Mazzarosa 1843.
- Its photos (vitruvio.imss.fi.it) are copyrighted, so I did not download them.
- Wikipedia, “Palazzo Galli Tassi, Lucca”.
- URL: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palazzo_Galli_Tassi,_Lucca (CC BY-SA 4.0 text)
- Founded in 1262; managed by the merchants’ guild until 1807.
- The present structure dates to 1870. Antonio Galli Tassi died in 1876 and left adjacent properties to the hospital.
- The new Campo di Marte hospital opened in 1935; orthopaedics stayed here until about 1980, after which the building became the courthouse.
- Excavations directed by G. Ciampoltrini in 1990-91 and 2001-04 found S. Giustina remains and the Roman walls.
- References: Quirós Castillo 2001; Lo Schermo 2020.
- Lo Schermo, T. Giacomelli, “Il vecchio Galli Tassi: il tetro ospedale dentro le Mura”, 17 Oct 2020.
- URL: https://www.loschermo.it/il-vecchio-galli-tassi-il-tetro-ospedale-dentro-le-mura/
- Oral-history memories of the 20th-century hospital (orthopaedics until 1980, a nursing school).
- No layout and no mention of foundlings.
- Tuscany’s Grapevine, Sept. 2021, “Ospedali & Pellegrini” (C. Calabrese).
- URL: https://www.luccagrapevine.com/september2021/ospedali&pellegrini.pdf
- Men’s ward on Piazzale Verdi between Via San Paolino and Via Vittorio Emanuele; women’s ward in Via Galli Tassi.
- The S. Maria Forisportam (S. Caterina) hospice took in foundlings under S. Luca’s supervision.
- Not consulted, but cited by the sources above:
- I. Belli Barsali, Lucca. Guida alla città (1988), p. 122. Per Cortina it locates the hospital “nell’angolo di via San Paolino”; Palazzo Sirti/Mansi was annexed in 1458 for orphans.
- G. Ciampoltrini, E. Abela, S. Bianchini, Nella terra, nel tempo: gli scavi archeologici nel complesso Galli Tassi di Lucca (2006).
- J.A. Quirós Castillo, Modi di costruire a Lucca nell’altomedioevo (2001).
Blocked or not available
Section titled “Blocked or not available”- cultura.gov.it event page “Sanità e infanzia abbandonata a Lucca tra XIX e XX secolo”: connection refused (geo-block). A Wayback copy is already saved by another task in
../archivio_stato_lucca/inventory_1623/. - web.archive.org: “Temporarily Offline” during part of the session, so Wayback was not used for loschermo, which was reachable live anyway.
- Wikimedia upload / API: HTTP 429 rate limits at times. The Trenta guide was taken from archive.org instead.
- David Rumsey: only 1588, 1688 and 1725 Lucca plans (Braun & Hogenberg, Merian, Bodenehr) and a 1963 Wurman plan. Nothing from the 19th or early 20th century, so I downloaded nothing. WebFetch is blocked for davidrumsey.com; the JSON search API via curl works.
- Not attempted: IGM sheets, Library of Congress and Gallica direct (the BnF plans came via Commons), and the Biblioteca Statale di Lucca.
Source note: 01_italy_lucca/maps_palazzo_galli_tassi/sources_index.md