At one end of the landing of the Grand Staircase lies the small Stanza del Tesoro – the Treasury – refurbished in recent years in the very space where the Scuola’s precious possessions were once kept.
The door to the room is of particular interest: it is fitted with seven locks, each requiring a different key to open it. In the past, the keys were kept by seven lay brothers, whose simultaneous presence was essential to gain access to the ‘secure room’, which still houses the silverware, sacred jewellery and votive offerings that constitute the Scuola’s treasure.
Despite the losses suffered during the Napoleonic suppressions, pieces of great artistic value are still preserved here, mostly dating from the eighteenth century: chalices, monstrances, reliquaries, altar cards, as well as the seventeenth-century volume of the Mariegola – the Scuola’s statutes – bound in red velvet with gilt silver decorations.
The objects on display thus reflect the historical and religious significance of the Scuola and bear witness to the brotherhood’s Marian devotion over the centuries, as well as its social and cultural role in the city.
