- The wheel of the foundlings
This "Sacred House" was erected in the 14th century together with the annexed church to serve as a charitable institution for the care of abandoned infants. It was reconstructed first in the 16th century in Renaissance form, and then in the 18th century by Luigi and Carlo Vanvitelli, after a fire. The fine marble portal, made in the 16th century by the Lombard artist Tommaso Malvito and his son Giovan Tommaso, has wooden doors carved by Pietro Belverte and Giovanni da Nola in the 16th century; it is through this portal that we enter the monumental courtyard of the House and the wooden "Wheel".
Abandoned babies were placed in a kind of wooden cylindrical drum and take out on the other side by the nurses who were always ready to receive them. On the exterior, above the wheel, there was a marble put to with the inscription "O father and mother who throw me here / We recommend ourselves to your charity". The "guests" of the institution were called "children of the Madonna", "children of Nunziata" or "esposti" (foundlings) and enjoyed very special privileges.
Some were found with a sheet of paper round their neck giving the name of the parents, or they carried a piece of gold or silver; others had nothing. All their clothing and personal marks were noted in a book to allow eventual easier recognition by their parents.
The Wheel, so sadly fascinating, was the best-knowon in Italy; its last used was in 1875.