La Schola Saxonum was conceived by the king as a sort of reception center for his compatriots, who came to Rome every year on pilgrimage to visit the tomb of Saint Peter. The entire complex was rebuilt in 1198, during the papacy of Innocent III, by Marchionne D’Arezzo.
The reconstruction work was necessary following the fires and sackings that severely damaged the structures of the complex. The Pope decided to commission the Order of the Holy Spirit Hospitallers to found a sort of hospital to host the poor, sick, and protected, that is all those children abandoned by their mothers. Between the years 1471 and 1478, the complex was partly rebuilt and expanded, following the design of the architect Baccio Pontelli, by the will of Pope Sixtus IV. The cycle of frescoes that concerns the Sistine Ward is due to the initiative of Sixtus IV and depicts the history of the ancient hospital and the Sistine refoundation.
The Sistine Ward is divided in two by an octagonal tiburio and houses inside an altar attributed to Palladio and a painting by Carlo Maratta. During the pontificate of Pius V, the complex was further expanded and the construction of the Commander’s Palace was ordered, the work of the architect Giovanni Lippi called Nanni di Baccio Bigio. In the nineteenth century, the two wings that make up the Sistine Ward were called Sala Lancisi and Sala Baglivi, named after two well-known doctors.
The entrance is dominated by a marvelous marble portal, called the Portal of Paradise and attributed to the school of Andrea Bregno.
