Lazzaretto of Ancona

Coordinates: 43°36′52″N 13°30′13″E / 43.61444°N 13.50361°E / 43.61444; 13.50361
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
The Lazzaretto after renovation

The Lazzaretto of Ancona, also called the Mole Vanvitelliana, is a pentagonal 18th-century building built on an artificial island as a quarantine station for the port town of Ancona, Italy.

History

The island is separated from the land by a channel called "

Neoclassical tempietto dedicated to Saint Roch, invoked against the plague, in the center of the courtyard. It was built to house possibly-infected travellers and goods arriving in the port,[2] who had to remain there forty days.[1]

Over the years, the site has taken different functions; in 1860 as a military citadel, then in 1884 a sugar refinery.[1] During World War I, there was a failed attempt to sabotage the Italian naval resources by 60 infiltrating Habsburg sailors. Now it is used as a site of the museum Tattile Omero, as well as home for various exhibitions.

It is not clear why a pentagonal shape was chosen for the building. However, the rationalistic and functional ensemble is common to many works of late

Fernando Fuga, such as the massive Royal Hospice and Hospital for the Poor and the mathematical Cemetery of the 366 Fossae
.

References

  1. ^ a b c "Lazzaretto | Ancona Vanvitelli Stately Building", Visit Ancona (tourist information)
  2. ISBN 2-85744-266-1
    .

Sources

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Mole Vanvitelliana.

43°36′52″N 13°30′13″E / 43.61444°N 13.50361°E / 43.61444; 13.50361


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