The Ospedale degli Innocenti, were an orphanage where abandoned babies were admitted, taken care of and educated. When the girls reached the marriageable age of fifteen, they were given a dowry so they could get married.

The building was designed by Brunelleschi in 1419, and is another masterpiece by this great Renaissance architect. It is very harmoniously arranged behind a spacious loggia, and is characterised by a very original re-working of ancient Roman architectural elements. You can see a number of ceramic medallions by the Della Robbia family in the spaces between the arches. They show babies in swaddling clothes and symbolise the work of the Orphanage.
The great loggia is really an extension of the piazza itself and forms a covered walkway. At the end of the loggia, at the side on the left going towards Via della Colonna, is the niche, now walled in, where there was the "ruota", the wheel into which unwanted babies were placed. Above, there is a moving inscription in Latin taken from Psalm XXVI: "Pater et mater reliquerunt nos, Dominus autem assumpsit" – "Our father and mother have forsaken us, the Lord has taken us in".
In addition to the Renaissance cloisters, and the beautiful 18th century church inside the Ospedale, there is an interesting collection of paintings. Worth seeing among these is the Adoration of the Magi, a work painted in 1488 by Domenico Ghirlandaio.