Logge dei Tiratori

The long building, complete with arcade and adjacent to the church of Santa Maria dei Laici, was originally St.Mary’s Hospital, erected in 1326 on the initiative of the confraternity of the same name. In 1505 other hospitals of the town were added to it, so that the building took on the name of “Spedal Grande” (in use until 1628). On its front can still be seen a fresco representing the “Madonna between St. Peter and St. Paul” (1473), by one of Nelli’s pupils. As far back as the middle of the 15th century the Woolworkers’ Guild wanted to build, above the hospital, covered premises where it would be possible to “stretch” pieces of cloth (that is to say, to let them dry after stretching them to the size desired). After endless controversies, the “stretching loggias” were finally built at the beginning of the 17th c.