A volume that examines three exemplary shelters for the poor constructed in the 1600s and 1700s in Genoa, Palermo and Naples, analyzed for their social, religious and, above all, architectural significance.
[The triumph of poverty. Shelters for the poor in Genoa, Palermo and Naples] The unusual theme of this book is that of the shelters for the poor built in Italy in the 1600s and 1700s, in particular three famous architectural works, different but comparable: the “albergo dei poveri” of Genoa, whose construction included the contribution of Pierre Puget; that of Palermo, which involved personalities like Orazio Furetto and Giovan Battista Vaccarini; and the famous “albergo” of Naples, design in approximately 1750 by Ferdinando Fuga. In this original historiographic project levels of social, cultural, religious and legal research necessarily intertwine, though the central focus is on the intrinsic significance of the architectural works examined. The triumph of poverty indicated in the title refers to how the exercise of charity was inseparable from commemorative aims, an opportunity to celebrate the grandeur of charity in the century before the Enlightenment.