Santa Maria della Carità, Brescia

It is stated that a wealthy patron, Laura Gambara, erected both the monastery and church of the Carita from 1481 to 1531, and a convent to shelter repentant fallen women or prostitutes, known as convertite.

The portal has two columns of Egyptian marble, spolia from a Roman temple, and moved here from the Paleochristian basilica of San Pietro de Dom that was demolished in the 17th century.

The interior has an octagonal layout and is rich with baroque decoration in polychrome marble and stucco.

The 15th-century fresco of the Madonna della Carità at the main altar was once present in the Monastery of San Girolamo.

[1] An inventory from 1826, recalls quadratura frescoes on the walls by Giuseppe Orsoni, with figures by Bernardino Boni painted in the lunettes under the cupola depicting the Life of the Virgin.