Ospedale Maggiore (Ca'Granda)

Ospedale Maggiore was founded in 1466 by Duca Francesco Sforza as Magna Domus Hospitalis (Ca’Granda). The architect who designed the building was Filarete. At first, it was a poorhouse, but later it became an acute hospital. In the second half of the nineteenth century, Ospedale Maggiore was one of the best-known hospitals in Europe (alongside Paris’ Hotel de Dieu), and was run by Dr Andrea Verga. At the beginning of the twentieth century, a new Ospedale Maggiore Policlinico was established under the direction of Luigi Zoja, the first Professor of Medicine at the new Università degli Studi. In 1932, new buildings for the hospital were put into use at Via Francesco Sforza, Porta Romana. During the Second World War, part of the old hospital was bombed.