TheLazzaretto of Ancona, also called theMole Vanvitelliana, is a pentagonal 18th-century building built on an artificial island as a quarantine station for the port town ofAncona,Italy.
The island is separated from the land by a channel called "Mandracchio".[1] It originally had only one link to the mainland. It is now connected to the mainland by three bridges. The building was commissioned by PopeClement XII, designed by the architectLuigi Vanvitelli, and built from 1733 to 1743. A well was located in the centralNeoclassical tempietto dedicated toSaint 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] DuringWorld 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 museumTattile 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 lateEnlightenment architecture. The efforts of this work can be compared to the contemporary architecture of institutions meant to provide geometrically compelling structures to house services for the poor in Naples byFernando Fuga, such as the massiveRoyal Hospice and Hospital for the Poor and the mathematicalCemetery of the 366 Fossae.
43°36′52″N13°30′13″E / 43.61444°N 13.50361°E /43.61444; 13.50361
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