Erected in 1695 by the charitable organisation Consorzio della Madonna as their headquarters, the architecture is austere, appropriate for the charitable actions carried out there: the ground floor was used for warehousing, to store the goods that were to be distributed to the poor, the porticoed façade offers shelter from where alms could be distributed while on the first floor (which remains almost intact) there were administrative offices and the Boardroom. With the reform of the charity system carried out by Hapsburg Joseph II in 1786, the Alms Institute was created, which is now the Town of Cremona Foundation, whose headquarters are still in the building. The Foundation houses a prized collection of paintings dating from the 17th and the 20th centuries.