BRUNELLESCHI, Filippo
(b. 1377, Firenze, d. 1446, Firenze)

Ospedale degli Innocenti: Façade

1419-26
Photo
Piazza della SS. Annunziata, Florence

The loggia that Brunelleschi designed for the hospital is not, in its basic form, unusual. This type of structure seems to have been used consistently in late medieval hospitals. Street loggias providing shelter for pedestrians were common in other Italian cities, particularly Bologna, Padua, and Venice.