Ospedale Della Pieta

Please note that the content of this book primarily consists of articles available from Wikipedia or other free sources online. The Ospedale della Pietà was a convent, orphanage, and music school in Venice. Like other Venetian ospedali, the Pietà was established (in a location remote from the Riva degli Schiavoni) as a hostel for Crusaders. As the Crusades abated, it changed by degrees into a charitable institution for orphans and abandoned girls. Infants could be left at the Pietà via the scaffetta, a small window large to admit only infants. Not all infants were female, nor were they necessarily orphans. Through the seventeenth century all of four of the surviving ospedali gained increasing attention through the performances of sacred music by their figlie di coro. Formal rules for the training of figlie were carefully drafted and periodically revised. Many of these concerts were given for select audiences consisting of important visitors.