A photo of the facade of the former Hospital
The earlier structure of the hospital was built with the legacies given to the Society of the Beaten or Disciples of the Broom, an unarmed militia that, born in Offida in the thirteenth century, toured around the country and preached penitence and peace among men.
The construction of the Hospital of the Holy Trinity – as it was called at that time - was confirmed by a bull of pope Benedict XII (born? – died in 1342) of the 15th of may, 1340.
At the beginning of the fifteenth century the Hospital and the annex Oratory were assigned to other uses (as a stable and residence) by Ardizzone, the child of Francesco, count of Carrara. The counts of Carrara, gentlemen of Padua, thanks to count Francesco’s deeds, had also conquered Ascoli and Offida.
After the Carraras had been expelled (in the early fifteenth century) from the occupied lands, the brothers named as rector of the Oratory and custodian of the Hospital of the Holy Trinity, the priest Don Antonio Mustacci that asked for authorization by the Apostolic See.
Nevertheless, through an apostolic brief by Pope Paul II (1417-1471) of 1466 and a bull by Sisto IV (1414-1484) of the 4th of April, 1478 the hospital returned to the brothers of the Holy Trinity that, more than once, had avoided the danger of turning the construction into a monastery.
With a bull of the 13th of June, 1576 pope Gregory XIII (1 502-1585) granted that any attempt of modification of the existing structure would have been prevented.
The present structure was built in 1796 on a design by Pietro Maggi, from the Ticino area. In 1860 the management passed to the Order of Charity, under a Law of the 24th of October by commissary Valerio and under the Royal Decree of the 8th of June, 1865. In consequence of a recent Health Reform, the management has definitely passed to the ASL (the local sanitary administration).
Ex - civil Hospital, 18th century by architect Pietro Maggi, now outpatients department ( belonging to the ASL) and first aid station. The War Memorial in the foreground.
