The Loggia del Bigallo was built sometime in the mid 1300s for the Compagnia della Misericordia. This was a charitable institution which had been founded in 1244 by St Peter Martyr in order to assist the sick and bury the dead. When the loggia was built it was also used as an orphanage where abandoned infants were placed before being fostered and there are fragments of a fresco from 1386 which depicts the children being handed to their adoptive families. The name Bigallo comes from a village whose orphanage, Campagnia del Bigallo, was closely linked to the one here.