When we think of an ambulance, we usually imagine a white van with flashing lights and sirens cutting through traffic; the story of organized emergency transport, however, begins long before engines and stretchers on wheels, and it does so in Italy. Indeed, of the earliest examples took shape inthirteenth-century Florence, around a lay brotherhood that still operates today: the Misericordia di Firenze.
The confraternity was founded in 1244, in the climate of religious renewal sparked by the Dominican friar Pietro da Verona. From its first years, the group devoted itself to works of mercy, and one of the most visible was the transport of the sick to the city’s hospitals and the burial of the dead. Over time, the Misericordia developed a structured service, with members organized in turns and ready to respond when there was a call for help.
