San Giacomo degli Incurabili

Title

San Giacomo degli Incurabili

Description

The hospital of San Giacomo in Augusta was the third hospital built in Rome during the Middle Ages. According to Cardinal Pietro Colonna’s will, the initial structure of the hospital was erected in 1339 in honor of his uncle Giacomo Colonna, who had noticed that the incurable patients, wounded and in need for a long period of hospitalization, were rejected by the other two hospitals.

The complex initially was the Mausoleum of Emperor Augustus, built in 28 BC, which became a stronghold of the Colonna family in the Middle Ages. Giacomo intended to redeem the honor of the house by doing charity for more people in Rome, as well as showing the family power. The location of the hospital is near Tiber river and next to Portages del Popolo, allowing easier access for food and supplie coming by the river and providing convenience for the pilgrims coming from a long distance on foot.

In the 16th century, Pope Leo X transformed the hospital for the sick and the incurable of all social classes and all genders, with particular attention to the cure of syphilis, which was rapidly and widely spread during the time. Leo X also established free assistance to the sick. The main source of funding was obtained mainly from the donations of private donors (Pope Leo X among them) and from the revenues of the various assets that were attributed to the hospital itself.

Also in the 16th century, under the first ambitious reconstruction of the hospital, the Chiesa di San Giacomo in Augusta was built next to the hospital. Moreover, Chiesa di Santa Maria Portae Paradisi was rebuilt and given its name in 1523 as part of the extension of an adjoining hospital. In 2008, the hospital was closed by regional law of Lazio for very complicated reasons, arousing a large number of protests.

Creator

Skylar Yu (2021)

Source

Keyvanian, Carla. Hospitals and Urbanism in Rome, 1200-1500. Leiden: Brill, 2015.

Tanner Fliss '16, “Santa Maria Porta Paradisi,” Carleton Guide to Medieval Rome from Reason, accessed May 31, 2019, http://omeka-dev.carleton.edu/cgmr/items/show/245.

"Ospedale Di San Giacomo Degli Incurabili." Wikiwand. Accessed May 31, 2019. https://www.wikiwand.com/it/Ospedale_di_San_Giacomo_degli_Incurabili#/La_medaglia_pontificia.

Date

1339

Identifier

sangiacomo_2019

Coverage

Spatial Coverage

Via del Corso, 00186 Roma RM

Description

The hospital of San Giacomo in Augusta was the third hospital built in Rome during the Middle Ages. According to Cardinal Pietro Colonna’s will, the initial structure of the hospital was erected in 1339 in honor of his uncle Giacomo Colonna, who had noticed that the incurable patients, wounded and in need for a long period of hospitalization, were rejected by the other two hospitals.

The complex initially was the Mausoleum of Emperor Augustus, built in 28 BC, which became a stronghold of the Colonna family in the Middle Ages. Giacomo intended to redeem the honor of the house by doing charity for more people in Rome, as well as showing the family power. The location of the hospital is near Tiber river and next to Portages del Popolo, allowing easier access for food and supplie coming by the river and providing convenience for the pilgrims coming from a long distance on foot.

In the 16th century, Pope Leo X transformed the hospital for the sick and the incurable of all social classes and all genders, with particular attention to the cure of syphilis, which was rapidly and widely spread during the time. Leo X also established free assistance to the sick. The main source of funding was obtained mainly from the donations of private donors (Pope Leo X among them) and from the revenues of the various assets that were attributed to the hospital itself.

Also in the 16th century, under the first ambitious reconstruction of the hospital, the Chiesa di San Giacomo in Augusta was built next to the hospital. Moreover, Chiesa di Santa Maria Portae Paradisi was rebuilt and given its name in 1523 as part of the extension of an adjoining hospital. In 2008, the hospital was closed by regional law of Lazio for very complicated reasons, arousing a large number of protests.

Creator

Skylar Yu (2021)

Date

1339

Coverage

1300s

Source

Keyvanian, Carla. Hospitals and Urbanism in Rome, 1200-1500. Leiden: Brill, 2015.

Tanner Fliss '16, “Santa Maria Porta Paradisi,” Carleton Guide to Medieval Rome from Reason, accessed May 31, 2019, http://omeka-dev.carleton.edu/cgmr/items/show/245.

"Ospedale Di San Giacomo Degli Incurabili." Wikiwand. Accessed May 31, 2019. https://www.wikiwand.com/it/Ospedale_di_San_Giacomo_degli_Incurabili#/La_medaglia_pontificia.

Geolocation