Page 178 - Mediterranea-ricerche storiche, n. 48, aprile 2020flip

178 Roberto Rossi

The variety of sources of funding meant that collecting the money
was not easy. Revenues from public funding originated in the liqui-
dation of the huge patrimony of the Society of Jesus (suppressed in
1767), whose rents on lands and buildings constituted one of the
biggest sources of wealth in Sicily . Furthermore, the suppression (in
19
1782) and liquidation of Santo Uffizio (the Inquisition) released a lot of
resources employed by the Crown in different activities related to
health assistance and poor relief . The operating costs of Real Albergo
20
dei Poveri are summarized in table 3.

Table 3. Other expenses of Real Albergo dei Poveri of Palermo (1811)
Different costs for inmates
Item Sicilian onze
For the Church 50
For infirmary 380
Clothing and linen 1000
Nourishment 3192
Total 4622

Administrative expenses
Item Sicilian onze
Taxes 70
Wages of administrative personnel 190
Wages of inmate workers 508
5% tax 384
Lawsuit expenses 60
Different expenses 240
Different contributions (tips, donations, etc.) 44
Total 1496
Source: Asp, Rsi, f. 5272.

The main variable cost items depended on each hosted girl’s daily
meals, details of which are reported in Table 4. The orphans did not
have a ‘standard’ diet but looking at the nourishment budget we can
see that there would be a differentiated diet based on wheat, pasta,
meat and cheese. The result is that the bodies were well assisted and
maintained, and the variety of items included in the nourishment
budget show us how the nutrition proposed for orphan girl was, on

19 R. Rossi, Poor government and work organisation in the Real Albergo dei poveri of
Palermo cit., p. 65.
20 F. Renda, Bernardo Tanucci e i beni dei Gesuiti in Sicilia, Edizioni di Storia e
Letteratura, Roma, 1974.

Mediterranea - ricerche storiche - Anno XVII - Aprile 2020
ISSN 1824-3010 (stampa) ISSN 1828-230X (online)