The Ospedale dei Cappuccini is located in Bisceglie (via La Marmora, 3). It was in activity from 1879 to 1965, when a new hospital was built in the city. The old hospital and the adjacent church of St. Michael Archangel are, today, a community center for people with disabilities.
The hospital was founded in 1879 as a result of an agreement between the municipality of Bisceglie and the “Pia Associazione Monte di Pietà”. Originally, it was composed by four beds for men, four for women and four for people that, paying, wanted a better healthcare. At the end of the 19th Century there was an important development for the hospital thanks to some gifts among which some by Father Giacinto Nigri, whose portrait is still in the health department of the new hospital.
In 1952-1953 the hospital enlarged, relocating some departments into a nearby building, nowadays a police office. It operated until 1965, when the new hospital of Bisceglie was built.
Comparing some photos of the old hospital with the recent situation1
A small patient smiles recovering in the hospital courtyard in the period between the two World Wars2
Small sick girls and nurses in a photograph of 19553
Dr. Domenico Paternostro, surgeon and medical director of the hospital, presents the new operating table in the early 960s.4
The ambulance, donated in the early 960s by citizens of Bisceglie emigrated to America, is displayed in front of the hospital.5
The topographic map of the former convent of the Capuchin friars6
The inner courtyard of the hospital which once hosted first care clinics.
Also a part of the hospital complex and accessible from the courtyard is the church of St. Michael Archangel with its wonderful altar.
- Photos and main text by Paola Nigri and Paolo Certini (December 2014); old photos, courtesy of dr. Tommaso Fontana.
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Bibliography
- L. De Ceglia – T. Fontana, L’ospedale e la sanità a Bisceglie, 2003