The most outstanding duke of the XVIII
Century was Francesco III, who oversaw the construction of works
of public utility. One of the chief of these was the Grande
Ospedale Civile degli Infermi, or Infirmary, built between
1755 and 1762, its long outer facade of a decorous simplicity,
with the fanlights and the wrought iron grilles over its large
windows, the work of Malagoli, its only ornaments. Opposite,
beyond the via Emilia and piazza S. Agostino, stands the Grande
Albergo dei Poveri, or workhouse, built between 1767 and 1771
to a design by P. Termanini to house the large numbers
of poor people in the city. The facade, which has two orders
of windows, is subdivided by numerous lesenes and decorated by
large white marble vases along the gutter line. The building
has been used for various purposes over time: an art gallery from
1788, it became the property of the City Council in 1883 and now,
as the Palazzo dei Musei, it houses Modena's most important
historic and artistic collections.
|