Prof. Luzzi's carefully researched project illustrates how a Florentine orphanage rescued thousands of children and revolutionized childhood education amid the splendor of Renaissance art.
The story begins with the abandonment of the newborn Agata Smeralda on February 5, 1445, in Florence’s Hospital of the Innocents, the first—but certainly not the last—child to be left at its doors. In an era when children were frequently abandoned, often trafficked or left to die on the streets, an orphanage devoted to their care and protection was a striking innovation. The Innocenti, as it has come to be called—the first orphanage in Europe devoted exclusively to unwanted children—would go on to care for nearly 400,000 young lives over the next five centuries.
Built by the Silk Weavers Guild at a time when the wealthy were expected to contribute to civic life, the Innocenti featured glorious arches designed by Filippo Brunelleschi and housed works by some of the greatest artists of the Renaissance, from the painter Domenico Ghirlandaio to the sculptor Luca della Robbia. Meanwhile, the new orphanage also redefined the idea of “childhood” itself, particularly in education, as boys were often taught not just Latin and basic numeracy, but also a well-rounded curriculum that included art, literature, and music. Girls learned viable trades such as weaving and silk manufacturing, and the Innocenti assisted them in securing suitable marriages to protect them from poverty or a life of prostitution. Over the centuries, the orphanage oversaw groundbreaking scientific discoveries—it was a birthplace of modern pediatrics—while struggling against rampant disease, constant financial crises, and the dramatic ups and downs of Florentine politics in the Medici era.
Reflecting in a touching preface on the major caregivers in his own life, Joseph Luzzi narrates the fascinating history of this revolutionary orphanage, offering readers the first comprehensive “biography” of a groundbreaking humanitarian institution that recognized poor and abandoned children as worthy of nurture—and thereby shaped education and childcare for generations to come.
About Joseph Luzzi
Joseph Luzzi received his PhD from Yale in 2000 and is the Asher B. Edelman Professor of Literature at Bard, where he has taught since 2002. He is the author of nine books, including the newly published The Innocents of Florence: The Renaissance Discovery of Childhood (Norton, November 2025) and the recent Dante’s Divine Comedy: A Biography (Princeton University Press, 2024) and a translation of Dante’s Vita Nuova (Norton/Liveright, 2024). His Botticelli’s Secret: The Lost Drawings and the Rediscovery of the Renaissance (Norton, 2022) was a New Yorker Best Books of 2022 selection and shortlisted for the Phi Beta Kappa Ralph Waldo Emerson Award. His honors include the MLA’s Scaglione Prize for Italian Studies for his first book, Romantic Europe and the Ghost of Italy (Yale University Press, 2008); NEH Public Scholars Award; Wallace Fellowship from Villa I Tatti, Harvard’s Center for Italian Renaissance studies; Dante Society of America essay prize; and Yale College teaching prize. In addition to his scholarly work, his writing has appeared in the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Times of London, Times Literary Supplement, Chronicle of Higher Education, and many other public-facing publications. Luzzi lectures internationally on literature, art, film, and the power of the humanities, and he has been profiled in media outlets including National Public Radio and The Guardian. In 2017, he was named Cittadino Onorario/Honorary Citizen of Acri, Calabria, the Italian birthplace of his parents.