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Gagliardi Family Archive

Where was the foundling service (esposti / brefotrofio / ruota) inside the Lucca hospital complex?

Accessed 2026-10-17. Short quotes only (<15 words). Status labels: VERIFIED = stated directly by a primary/near-primary source I read; INFERRED = my reading of maps and sources together.

The complex in one paragraph

Section titled “The complex in one paragraph”

The Spedale di San Luca della Misericordia (from 1808 part of the Regi Spedali ed Ospizi; later Ospedale Galli Tassi) was split across two blocks at the west end of the old city, either side of Via San Paolino (its west stretch was then called Via di Porta S. Donato), next to the open Prato (the Prato del Marchese / Anfiteatro delle Corse, today Piazzale Giuseppe Verdi):

  • South block, the men’s hospital (sezione maschile). It lay between Piazzale Verdi (W), Via San Paolino (N), Via del Crocifisso / Piazza del Crocifisso (E) and Via Vittorio Emanuele II (S; called Via della Rotonda in 1820). The small church of S. Luca stood at its NW corner on Via San Paolino. Today the Hotel San Luca Palace (Via San Paolino) occupies part of it.
  • North block, the women’s hospital (sezione femminile), later the 1870 rebuild “Palazzo Galli Tassi”. It lay between Piazzale San Donato/Prato (W), Via San Paolino (S), Via Galli Tassi (E; called Via S. Pellegrino before the Galli Tassi bequest of 1876) and Via S. Tommaso (N), with the ex-monastery of S. Giustina at its NE corner. Today it holds the courthouse (main entrance on Via Galli Tassi) and the Comune’s Servizi Demografici / Anagrafe wing facing Piazzale San Donato / Via San Paolino.

Evidence about the foundlings

Section titled “Evidence about the foundlings”
  1. Trenta, Guida del forestiere (Lucca 1820), c. p. 13 (VERIFIED). Of the three charitable ospizi, the one for foundlings was “degli esposti ed altri poveri ragazzi contiguo all’Ospedale”. In other words, the hospice for male foundlings and poor boys stood next to the hospital. Girls went to S. Giustina. The same guide (p. 63) says the Spedale “è diviso in due gran fabbriche”, one for women and one for men. File: trenta_1820_guida_del_forestiere_lucca_IA_guidadelforestie00tren.pdf.
  2. Engraved plan signed “Gaet. Nerici fe. 1820” (BnF Ge D 2587; VERIFIED from the legend). No. 7 is “Ospedale per le Donne, e Orfanotrofio dei Fanciulli”, in the north block on Via S. Paolino. No. 8 is “Orfanotrofio delle Donne, d.o di S. Giustina”, at the NE of the north block. No. 9 is “Ospedale per gli Uomini”, in the south block. See city_plans/lucca_pianta_1820_bnf_DETAIL_*.jpg.
  3. Mazzarosa, Guida di Lucca (1843), pp. 81-83 (VERIFIED).
    • The men’s hospital entrance was a portone facing the oratory of the SS. Crocifisso dei Bianchi, across Piazza del Crocifisso. That puts it on the east side of the south block.
    • The women’s building “è divisa dalla strada”, meaning it stood across Via San Paolino.
    • “Congiunto all’ospedale degli uomini” was the hospice of male esposti and orphans (ages 5-18, about 150 places).
    • “Presso all’ospizio degli esposti … in un luogo affatto separato” the lattanti (newborn foundlings) were received and sent out at once to wet-nurses (balie).
    • Female esposte aged 5 and over lived in the S. Giustina orphanage, in the north block, from 1809.
    • No ruota is mentioned.
    • File: mazzarosa_1843_guida_di_lucca_IA_guidadiluccaede00mazzgoog.pdf.
  4. Museo Galileo, “Antico Ospedale di San Luca o della Misericordia” (VERIFIED secondary). It says the sezione maschile held “i ricoveri per i trovatelli”, located between Piazzale Giuseppe Verdi, Via San Paolino and Via Vittorio Emanuele. It also says the female section “è oggi sede dell’anagrafe comunale”. It cites Repetti 1835 and Mazzarosa 1843.
  5. Cortina 2025, Archeologica Data V.2 (secondary; partly conflicting). It says the men’s section lay “tra via del Crocifisso e le mura medievali”. It places the “sezione femminile e pediatrica” SE of the S. Giustina monastery (now the Anagrafe). It also puts the ex-church of S. Luca at the corner of Via San Paolino, and Hotel San Luca on the south side of Via San Paolino, bordering the ex-church to the west.
  6. Lucca Grapevine, Sept. 2021 (secondary). It gives the same split: men’s ward on Piazzale Verdi between Via San Paolino and Via Vittorio Emanuele, women’s ward on Via Galli Tassi.

Conclusions

Section titled “Conclusions”
  • VERIFIED for c.1820-1843:
    • The foundling (esposti) hospice for boys, and the separate room where newborn foundlings were received before going to wet-nurses, adjoined the men’s hospital. That is the south block: south side of Via San Paolino, between Piazzale Verdi and Piazza/Via del Crocifisso, today roughly the Hotel San Luca Palace area.
    • Older foundling girls were housed at S. Giustina, at the NE corner of the north block near Via Galli Tassi.
    • Conflict: the 1820 map’s no. 7 instead places the boys’ orphanage (“Orfanotrofio dei Fanciulli”) with the women’s hospital in the north block. So either it moved between 1820 and 1843, or the two sources use the labels loosely.
  • NOT FOUND: the ruota. None of the sources I read (Trenta 1820, Mazzarosa 1843, Museo Galileo, Wikipedia, Lo Schermo, Cortina 2025, Grapevine) mentions a ruota at Lucca. No street called “Via della Ruota” or “Via degli Esposti” appears on the 1820 plan or on the CASTORE city sheets (c.1873). One label I first read as “Via degli Esposti” on sheet C3/3 turned out to say “Via degli Stipari”.
  • INFERRED for 1901 (Pirro Gagliardi):
    • By 1901 the Regi Spedali had been rebuilt (c.1870) around the north block, with its new main front on Via Galli Tassi, while still using both blocks. The 1926 TCI plan labels “Osped. Civile” on both sides of Via San Paolino.
    • Mazzarosa’s arrangement survived after 1870 only if the admissions office had not moved. Under that assumption, a 1901 foundling would have been received in the south block (male section, toward Piazza del Crocifisso / Piazzale Verdi) or in the paediatric part of the north block (Cortina).
    • Italian ruote were generally replaced by admission offices (uffici di accettazione) from the 1860s-80s. So in 1901 the child was more likely handed over at an admission office than left in a wheel. This is unverified for Lucca.
    • Next step: the ASLu fonds Regi Spedali e ospizi / Ospedale Generale Provinciale (Inventario 1623) and the ASLu 2021 exhibition “Sanità e infanzia abbandonata a Lucca tra XIX e XX secolo”.

Sources (URLs)

Section titled “Sources (URLs)”

Source note: 01_italy_lucca/maps_palazzo_galli_tassi/studies/notes_location_brefotrofio_ruota.md