Page 208 - Mediterranea-ricerche storiche, n. 48, aprile 2020flip

208 Beatrice Zucca Micheletto

the quality of their work was low and the inmates had scarce interest
in it, the administrators introduced occasional rewards and often they
did not withhold any sum (or reduced it). In addition, when in 1731 at
the Soccorso was introduced the manufacturing of laces ‘in the
manner of Malines and Valenciene’, a girl previously hosted at the
Ospedale di Carità and trained by the French entrepreneur
Boullement was accepted in the institution in order to teach to other
girls and women . In the same year, the Opera della Provvidenza, an
21
almshouse for girls aged between 10 and 25, dispatched five girls to
join masters working at the Ospedale and sent another six to work
with Boullement, ‘to learn how to make lace’ . The same Provvidenza
22
around 1760 hired a Parisian mistress to teach girls the art of silk lace
making .
23
Not all the work performed in the charity institutions required
specific skills and training: almost all institutions also hired inmates
in low-skilled activities. As stated, the Ospedale di Carità and the
Albergo di Virtù hosted relatively large woollen manufactures since
they were the only two admitted in Turin. Since 1733, the authorities
banned this activity from the capital and its outskirts in order to
encourage the local production of silk and increase the demand. The
woollens workshop of the Ospedale, placed under the supervision of
an entrepreneur who signed an agreement for nine years, made
clothing for the army and clothes and blankets for the inmates. He
was also required to supply the institution with woollen thread for
socks and other underwear ‘without any profits’ . At the beginning of
24
the eighteenth century the manufacture of the Ospedale was equipped
with machines for spinning, weaving and dyeing. The entrepreneur
was obliged to hire inmates who were paid by the piece and according
to the different tasks they performed . In this context, most inmates
25
– except weavers – performed repetitive, low-skilled tasks such as
combing, spinning and processing thread. From their first day they
received a fixed salary and they had to reach a minimum daily output.
Excessive exploitation was prevented by placing a ceiling on daily

21 M. Maritano, Le case del Soccorso cit., pp. 144-148.
22 F. A. Duboin, Raccolta cit., tomo 13, vol. 15, libro 7, Regio Biglietto (...) col quale si
ordina di mandare cinque alunne dell’opera della provvidenza ad imparare l’arte dei
merletti nella fabbrica Boullement (…) , p. 262.
23 S. Cavallo, Assistenza femminile e tutela dell'onore nella Torino del XVIII secolo,
«Annali della Fondazione L. Einaudi», 16 (1980), pp. 127-155, p. 148.
24 Asct, Ospedale di Carità, cat. XI, fasc. 5.
25 The tenancy agreements between the Ospedale and the entrepreneurs are pre-
served in : Asct, Ospedale di Carità, cat. XIX, vol. 17, a. 1753 ; Idem, vol. 29, a. 1776 ;
Idem, cat. XI, fasc. 5, a. 1793 ; Ast, sez. riun., Insinuazione di Torino, a. 1763, l. 3,
f. 582r-588r ; Idem, a. 1784, l. 9, f. 961r-969r.

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