The Hospital was built for the first time in 1349 by the
Colonna family for the will of the cardinal
Pietro Colonna in honor of his uncle
Giacomo Colonna, as stated in a memorial stone in one of the
cortili.
Leo X expressed in three apostolic letters between 1515 and 1516 his will to rebuild the hospital to help the pilgrims, the poor and especially the "incurables" not accepted from the other hospitals. Leo X mentioned in particular the fight against
syphilis as a priority to be set on the hospital's activity. That was a new illness that spread to Europe from the Americas at the end of the 15th century and that was taken to Italy from the troops of the French king
Charles VIII of France. In those same years,
Girolamo Fracastoro, a pioneer of the modern
pathology, proposed a cure for syphilis, the expensive
Lignum vitae, that was soon offered to the patients of San Giacomo for free. In fact, the
Statuta of San Giacomo was towards receiving patients of all economic conditions of both sexes for free, even for this very expensive cure. The building activity on the properties of San Giacomo shaped the
Tridente. The hospital was rebuilt in the second half of 16th century mainly by the activity of cardinal
Antonio Maria Salviati, together with the Church
San Giacomo in Augusta, ended in the year 1600. The hospital was starting to be funded by a little percentage from the public fundings, but for the major part from donations by privates: in the 16th century the major donations came from the
Pope Paul IV, from cardinal
Bartolomé de la Cueva y Toledo with the enormous expense of 80.000
scudi and cardinal
Clemente d'Olera with his entire heritage. The donations often consisted in properties, whose incomes were aimed to cover the costs of the hospitality, as done also by Salviati himself with the constitution of a fund bundled to assure incomes to the hospital for the forever future. The condition of the donation of Salviati was confirmed in 1610 by the papal bull in form of
motu proprio by the pope
Paulus V. During the 16th century
Camillus de Lellis was active in the Hospital. After his
conversion to christianity, he reformed the rules of the Hospital itself and established a new religious nursing system, the Order of the Ministers of the Sick also known as "
Camillians". After his death, he was declared Saint by the Catholic Church and protector of hospitality. Other notable saints from this century that were also active here were
Filippo Neri,
Gaetano Thiene and
Felice da Cantalice. During the 17th century was active here also the surgeon
Bernardino Genga, tho whom was intitled one
Galleria inside the hospital. In 1780
Pius VI built the round-shaped room with
Anatomical theatre in the
Sala Lancisiana, named after the surgeon
Giovanni Maria Lancisi. In 1815,
Pius VII set here the new chair of Surgery of
Università La Sapienza. Its first director was the surgeon
Giuseppe Sisco. At his death in 1830, Sisco donated his books to the hospital, his surgical instruments and instituted a prize for students. In 1833
Paolo Maria Martinez donated 12 000 scudi to the hospital for sickbeds, as reported on an inscription in the Hospital itself. In the mid-19th century the
Pope Gregory XVI made some major rebuilding work on the hospital structure, In the years following the
Capture of Rome and the union of the City to the
Kingdom of Italy in 1870, from 1896, the property of the Hospital was transferred to the Italian state-owned institution
Pio Istituto di Santo Spirito e Ospedali Riuniti di Roma, the new owner of all the public Italian hospitals in Rome not owned by the Church. In the 20th century the hospital was still in full activity. At the end of the century, the building included the biggest
Emergency department in the city center of Rome, that server an area of 400.000 residents and people who commute into the city center - but also a large number of tourists out of this number should be taken into account. On 21 December 1980, the Pope
John Paul II visited the hospital. In October 2008, after 680 years of continuous activity, the hospital was abruptly closed by a regional law issued in August 2008 where the president of the Lazio region
Piero Marrazzo was serving as
Commissario ad acta. The Lazio region, the new owner of the palace after the city of Rome, is now discussing to open commercial activity in place of public hospitality. Since 2008, the noblewoman
Oliva Salviati, descendant of the founder, claims to enforce the testament of his ancestor cardinal Anton Maria Salviati, who donated the building to the city under the strict condition of its use as a hospital: it followed a petition of 60.000 subscribers to keep active the hospital. ==Controversies==