438 david d’andrea
incurables (incurabili) in 1522.52 fleeing the sack of rome in 1527, Gian
Pietro Carafa (1476–1559) was welcomed by the administrators of Ven-
ice’s incurabili, and Carafa alongside thiene provided for the spiritual and
physical needs of the inmates.
the incurabili quickly earned the support of some of the leading men
and women of Venice, who participated in literal and symbolic service
to the most needy in the Venetian republic. for example, in March 1524
sanuto recorded that many were moved to devotion as they witnessed
Venetian nobles who with great humility washed the feet of the sick poor.53
there could hardly be a more poignant example fusing Venetian theology
and practice than Venetian policy-makers washing the feet of syphilitics.
the call to meritorious conduct that informed political theory and intro-
duced Venetian charitable legislation was not mere rhetoric. Venetian
service to the poor in the incurabili was based in Christian principles and
the concept of meritorious works to win divine favor and secular praise
for the republic.
one of the men inspired by the dedication and service of his fellow
nobles was Girolamo Miani (1486–1537), who embodied noble service to
the republic and the new charitable impulses of the 16th century.54 dur-
ing the famine years of 1527–29 Miani emerged as one of the most dedi-
cated servants in the new hospitals.55 in a few years Miani would not only
become a leader in the incurabili but also establish a new religious order,
the somaschans, dedicated to the education and care of children. Miani’s
holiness and selfless service would ultimately lead to his canonization in
- his actions provide a concrete example of Venetian theology and
practice fusing together. during times of crisis and change, new initiatives
were employed to sustain the republic. the hospitals and pious places of
Venice acted as mediators to merit divine favor and praise from the world.
the Venetian reputation for good works may have worked, for during
the years of crisis between 1527–29, three leading figures of the Catholic
52 Pullan, Rich and Poor, 231–38; aikema and Meijers, Nel regno dei poveri, pp.131–48;
andrea nordio, “L’ospedale degli incurabili nell’assistenza veneziana del ’500,” Studi vene-
ziani n.s. 32 (1996), 165–84. on the treatment of syphilis, see Laura McGough, “Quarantin-
ing Beauty: the french disease in early Modern Venice,” in Kevin siena, ed., Sins of the
Flesh: Responding to Sexual Disease in Early Modern Europe (toronto, 2005), pp. 211–38.
53 sanuto, I Diarii, vol. 36, cols 102–03.
54 on Miani, see Guiseppe della santa, “Per la biografia di un benefattore dell’umanità
nel ’500 (s. Girolamo Miani),” Nuovo Archivio Veneto (1917), 33–54; and Carlo Pellegrini, ed.
San Girolamo Miani e Venezia: Nel V centenario della nascita (Venice, 1986).
55 sanuto, I Diarii, vol. 47, col. 178.