It opened in the early fifteenth century as a charitable institution intended to provide for orphaned and abandoned girls, most of whom would remain for their entire lives unless they married. Children and adults alike were given intensive musical training.
By the late seventeenth century, the Ospedale (along with three other ospidali) was a renowned music school, obtaining significant income from musical composition and performance, and it was common for noblemen to place their daughters there.
The composer Antonio Vivaldi was master violin tutor at the Ospedale della Pieta from 1704, and chief composer from 1713 until he left Venice in 1740.
The Ospedale della Pietà still operates today, although with a much-reduced intake of around eight pupils per year.