Oratorio della Carità

Built for Fabriano's Confraternita della Carità between 1587 and 1597, the Oratory of Charity is decorated with fourteen frescoes of the works of mercy by Filippo Bellini. The cycle, accompanied by a canvas dated 1595, gives visual form to the confraternity's charitable mission.

Why it matters

The oratory was built on communal land near the church of San Francesco for a brotherhood devoted to charitable work. Its paintings show the spiritual and temporal works of mercy that the confraternity practised. The frescoes were made by Filippo Bellini of Urbino, considered a pupil of Federico Barocci, with sculptor Pietro Ricci di Sant'Arcangelo. The Comune owns the building, which also serves as a cultural venue.

What to notice

The rectangular hall has a wooden truss ceiling and a bench running along its walls. Fourteen frescoes fill the interior, with monochrome figures of biblical musicians in the cantoria above. A central canvas dated 1595 anchors the painted cycle. The original barrel vault, decorated by Fedele Palazzini, collapsed in the 1741 earthquake; the present truss roof was built in the twentieth century. An early organ was removed, and the gilded wooden altar decorated by Ambrogio is preserved elsewhere.

Context and history

The Confraternita della Carità's history is linked to a brotherhood founded in Salò in 1542 and to the Companies of Pilgrims inspired by Saint Philip Neri. Bellini worked in Fabriano from 1598 to 1602, when he completed the fresco cycle of the temporal and spiritual works of mercy. The building later served as a depot for the civic library. After damage in the 1997 earthquake, restoration returned the oratory to the city as a cultural venue.