Piero della Francesca in 1460 painted Polittico della Misericordia for this venue, the work was commissioned by confraternita della Misericordia.
Misericordia theatre comes from the former church and oratory of Santa Maria della Misericordia XIV century.
In 1445 the Confraternita della Misericordia commissioned Piero della Francesca the Polittico della Misericordia for the main altar of the chirch next to the hospital. A clause of the contract prohibited any collaborator and imposed a three years’ limit. The artist though, due to many other commitments could not meet his obligations and finished the Polittico only fifteen years later in 1460 with the help of a collaborator, Giuliano Amidei, a miniaturist from Camaldoli who put an end to the work.
During the XVII century the Polittico was dismemberd and its parts inserted in a new wooden altar which is also present nowadays.
In 1901 it was moved to Pinacoteca Comunale where it is still on display.
During the World War II, the Misericordia hospital next to the church served a shelter; doctors, nurses and nuns took care of refugees risking their lives. Literary critic Attilio Momigliano and his wife Haydée Sacerdoti were also saved.
The project of the Teatro Comunale di Sansepolcro started in 2009 and after a careful restoration of the Misericordia hospital in 2013, the theater was eventually born.
Misericordia Theatre is the seat of the Artistica Laboratori Permanenti