A WORK THAT HAS
LASTED FOR CENTURIES
Hours of Opening
Closed to the public,
except for special openings
Founded in 1466 by Colleoni, the Luogo Pio della Pietà is one of the oldest charitable foundations in Europe. For over five centuries, it has supported women in vulnerable situations, preserved the Colleoni Chapel, and passed on the memory of the military leader, keeping alive the link between Colleoni's history and the community.
THE ORIGINS
Having reached an advanced age and having no male descendants, Bartolomeo Colleoni established the Luogo Pio on February 19, 1466, donating assets and properties to the city of Bergamo to create income for a specific purpose: to offer dowries to poor girls.
In his will of 1475 and a subsequent codicil, Colleoni imposed further obligations on the institution: the artistic completion, perpetual maintenance, and administration of his funeral chapel, a Renaissance masterpiece in the Upper Town.
A few months after his death, on February 20, 1476, the first Council of the Pietà met, consisting of seven members of the oldest families in Bergamo, including, obligatorily, one member each from the noble families Colleoni, Agliardi, and Colombi, the latter now extinct. Since then, the Council has never interrupted its activity, preserving the will of the founder.
A CONTINUING COMMITMENT
Over the centuries, Luogo Pio has kept the memory of its founder alive, combining solidarity with significant cultural and artistic initiatives.
2025: co-financing and collaboration for the publication of issue no. 124 of La Rivista di Bergamo, a monographic issue dedicated to Bartolomeo Colleoni on the 550th anniversary of his death, Grafica & Arte, Bergamo.
2025: co-financing and collaboration for the publication of the guide La Cappella Colleoni e il Luogo Pio della Pietà, Officina Libraria, Rome.
2025: co-financing of the publication of the book Incoronata. Stories, essays, and research on the church and convent of S. Maria Incoronata di Martinengo, Lubrina Bramani Editore, Bergamo.
2025: loan of the painting Madonna con il Bambino (Madonna and Child) by Giambettino Cignaroli for the exhibition “Eccellente dipintor” (Excellent Painter) (Museo d'Arte Sacra San Martino, Alzano Lombardo).
2023–2024: loan of the Portrait of Bartolomeo Colleoni by Giovan Battista Moroni to the major retrospective dedicated to the painter at the Gallerie d'Italia in Milan.
2023: promotion of the exhibition IO, MEDEA. La leggenda bianca del Rinascimento lombardo (I, MEDEA. The white legend of the Lombard Renaissance) at the Colleoni Chapel and the institution's historic headquarters.
2023: restoration of the large canvas Joshua Stopping the Sun by Giuseppe Maria Crespi, co-financed by the Creberg Foundation.
2020-2021: loan of two sculptures by Giovanni Antonio Amadeo, originally located on the façade of the Colleoni Chapel, for the exhibition Il Corpo e l’Anima, da Donatello a Michelangelo. Scultura italiana del Rinascimento (The Body and the Soul, from Donatello to Michelangelo. Italian Renaissance Sculpture) held at the Louvre Museum in Paris and subsequently at the Castello Sforzesco in Milan.
2018: publication of the book by Werner Parravicini Colleoni e Carlo il Temerario. Con la conferenza di Karl Bittmann dell'anno 1957 (Colleoni and Charles the Bold. With Karl Bittmann's lecture from 1957), Editrice Velar, Bergamo.
A TRADITION THAT LOOKS FORWARD
The Luogo Pio Colleoni is not only a guardian of memory, but also a contemporary cultural actor, committed to promoting historical knowledge, the restoration of works, and dialogue between the past and the future.
A foundation that for over five centuries has demonstrated how Bartolomeo Colleoni's legacy is not static, but alive and constantly evolving.
SPECIAL OPENINGS OF THE MONUMENTAL ROOMS OF THE DOMUS PIETATIS
On the occasion of the 550th anniversary of Bartolomeo Colleoni's death, Luogo Pio Colleoni is opening its doors in collaboration with volunteers from “Terre Colleonesche,” an association that brings together municipalities in the Bergamo area whose history is linked to the military leader.
DOMUS PIETATIS – PALACE OF THE LUOGO PIO DELLA PIETÀ
Via Bartolomeo Colleoni 11, Bergamo
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