WELCOME TO MARIO'S HOTEL IN FLORENCE

Welcome to Mario’s 3 Star Hotel in the Renaissance city of Firenze. With a cosy and friendly atmosphere and a great central location, Mario’s is a family run Guest House style hotel which offers comfort and service with a smile to guests from all over the world. Blending the old world charm of Florence in the fixtures and fittings of a 17th century building with the modern luxuries and comforts expected by today’s traveller, The Florentine hotel owners Leonardo and his brothers like to personally afford each and every guest that personal touch and leave you with happy memories of a pleasant and fruitful stay in Florence.

venerdì 8 luglio 2011

OSPEDALE DEGLI INNOCENTI

The Ospedale degli Innocenti is a historical building in Florence, central Italy. Designed by Filippo Brunelleschi, who received the commission in 1419, it was originally a children's orphanage. It is regarded as a notable example of early Italian Renaissance architecture. The hospital, which features a nine bay loggia facing the Piazza SS. Annunziata, was built and managed by the "Arte della Seta" or Silk Guild of Florence. That guild was one of the wealthiest in the city and, like most guilds, took upon itself philanthropic duties.
The façade is made up of nine semicircular arches springing from columns of the Composite order. The semicircular windows brings the building down, earthbound and is a revival of the classical style, no longer a pointed arch. In the spandrels of the arches there are glazed blue terracotta roundels with reliefs of babies suggesting the function of the building. There is an emphasis on the horizontal because the building is longer than it is tall. Above each semicircular arch is a tabernacle window (a rectangular window with a triangular pediment on the top).
The clean and clear sense of proportion is reflected in the building. The height of the columns is the same width of the intercolumniation and the width of the arcade is equal to the height of the column, making each bay a cube. The simple proportions of the building reflect a new age, of secular education and a sense of great order and clarity. Also half the height of the column is the height of the entablature, which is appropriate for a clear minded society.
Ospedale degli Innocenti
Children were sometimes abandoned in a basin which was located at the front portico. However, this basin was removed in 1660 and replaced by a wheel for secret refuge. There was a door with a special rotating horizontal wheel that brought the baby into the building without the parent being seen. This allowed people to leave their babies, anonymously, to be cared for by the orphanage. This system was in operation until the hospital's closure in 1875. Today the building houses a small museum of Renaissance art.

Visit Florence and stay at our hotel:
HOTEL MARIO'S
Via Faenza, 89

50123 Florence - Italy 
www.hotelmarios.com

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