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Social Works Palace

The Social Works Palace is a 19th century palace, located in Piazza Duomo 2 in Vicenza (Veneto - Italy).

The building stands on the area previously occupied by the Hospital of Sant'Antonio, a complex of buildings intended to be "hospitable" with two adjoining churches, the first dedicated to Santa Maria, Sant'Antonio Abbate, San Giorgio and the second to San Gottardo, built near the bell tower of the cathedral in Piazza Duomo, between 1350 and 1364.

The founder of the hospital had been the German knight Alberto di Billanth, constable of Vicenza under the Scaligeri, who on several occasions put all his possessions into the construction and endowment of the hospital and the churches and, after having reserved them for himself and wife Aquilina the patronage, was buried together with her in a walled ark above the main altar of the church.

The hospital was managed by the Confraternity of San Giovanni decollato - which had originated from a fraglia dei Battuti - also known as the Negroni, because its members wore the black cape, when they accompanied the condemned to the gallows and took care of their burial. The hospital of Sant'Antonio soon acquired a notable city fame, confirmed by several documents of the fourteenth century, also for the "many amazing miracles" due to the intercession of Sant'Antonio abate, which attracted an extraordinary number of donations which, in addition to being destined for the poor, they also translated into precious artistic expressions.

Already at the end of the sixteenth century, however, the church was in need of considerable repairs; during the seventeenth century this situation worsened even more so when in the following century the hospital was transferred to the former monastery of San Bartolomeo, it was not even thought of saving it; the hospital of Sant'Antonio abate was suppressed, while the Confraternity of San Giovanni took off was concentrated in the small hospital of Sant'Ambrogio in Borgo Porta Nova.

Map: Social Works Palace