Complesso dell'Ospedaletto

The Complesso dell’Ospedaletto stands out with a facade designed by Baldassare Longhena, featuring stone masks that leer down at the street. Founded in fifteen twenty-eight, this was one of the four great charitable institutions of Venice, known as the Ospedali Grandi. It functioned as a home for orphans, the sick, and the destitute. A young girl living there once left behind a manuscript detailing her daily life, describing how the residents were strictly cloistered away from the city around them.