Ospedale Maggiore

Ospedale Maggiore
The courtyard of the Ospedale Maggiore.
General information
Town or city	Milan
Country	Italy
Construction started	April 1456
Design and construction
Architect	Antonio Filarete

The Ospedale Maggiore, traditionally named Ca' Granda (i.e. Big House), is a building in the centre of Milan, northern Italy, constructed to house one of the first community hospitals, the largest such undertaking of the fifteenth century. Commissioned by Francesco Sforza in 1456 and designed by Antonio Filarete, it is one of the first examples of Renaissance architecture in Lombardy.

Some of the relics of its long-established medical and sanitary history can still be found in the original buildings of the Ospedale Maggiore, which today house the University of Milan.

In 1456 the Duke of Milan, Francesco Sforza, founded the Magna Domus Hospitalis (Ca' Granda), a hospital dedicated to Annunciata (a municipality of the province of Brescia, Northern Italy). He did so primarily to gain the affection of its people, who were followers of the Visconti family of Milan, even though the Duke was married to Bianca Maria Visconti at the time.

Entering Milan victorious on 25 March 1450 (the day of Annunciation), the Duke decided to dedicate a charitable institution to Annunciata. It was then that the new foundation became the Spedale della Nunciata. Designed by the renowned architect Filarete and built by the engineer Guiniforte Solari (responsible for the courtyard of the Certosa di Pavia, a monastery complex in Lombardy, Northern Italy), the hospital formed part of the completion of the reform of hospitals started by the Archbishop Rampini in the years of the Golden Ambrosian Republic.

The completion of the cloisters and their ornamentation was carried out by Giovanni Antonio Amadeo, Solari’s son-in-law and pupil. Although the hospital was founded for the poor, it was from the outset a hospital where people with some hope of recovery were treated. Chronic diseases were treated in hospitals outside the city. For this reason the Ospedale Maggiore has always been the centre of health information in the city.