Order of the Saints Maurice and Lazarus

The Order of the Saints Maurice and Lazarus, the Sacred Religious Order of Saints Maurice and Lazarus, is the Savoyard chivalric order recognized by Pope Gregory XIII with the bull of 13 November 1572; since 1575 it has run a hospital in Turin, and today its name is carried by a hospital trust and a foundation that preserves its historical heritage.^[1]^[2]

Origins

The order unites two traditions: that of the Knights of Saint Lazarus, born in Jerusalem as a hospitaller order for lepers and the sick, and the Order of Saint Maurice founded by Amedeo VIII of Savoy at Ripaille in 1434.^[2] The first hospital was founded in 1575 by Emanuele Filiberto, grand master of the order, near the magistral basilica of the Saints Maurice and Lazarus on Via Milano; its pharmacy, dating from 1576, is the only trace left in the Galleria Umberto I, which arose in the building after the hospital was moved elsewhere.^[1]^[3]

The Umberto I Hospital

In 1881 the order's first secretary, Cesare Correnti, proposed to Umberto I a new hospital away from the city centre, on Viale di Stupinigi, now Corso Turati: designed by Giovanni Spantigati and Ambrogio Perincioli, its first stone was laid on 11 November 1881 and it was inaugurated by the king on 7 June 1885, the first pavilion-style hospital in Italy.^[1] It was expanded in 1911-1912 and renovated between 1926 and 1930 by Giovanni Chevalley.^[1] During the war it was one of the most heavily hit targets in the city, up to the American bombing of 1 December 1943; from March 1944 several Jews were admitted to the infectious diseases ward, thereby saved from deportation.^[1]

The 2004 reform

Decree-law 277 of 19 November 2004 reorganized the institution, which was in financial distress: the hospitals remained with the hospital trust and the rest of the holdings passed to a foundation tasked with settling the debts.^[4] With regional law 39 of 24 December 2004 the Region established the Ordine Mauriziano Hospital Trust, with the Umberto I facility on Largo Turati.^[5] The Fondazione Ordine Mauriziano manages the historical archive, the Mauritian basilica, the Sant'Antonio di Ranverso commandery, the Abbey of Staffarda and the Palazzina di Stupinigi.^[2] In 2022 an agreement with the Region settled a dispute opened in 2011 over unpaid healthcare services, with a payment of about 11.6 million euros.^[6] In 2026 the hospital rose to sixteenth place in Newsweek's ranking.^[7]

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