Page 212 - Mediterranea-ricerche storiche, n. 48, aprile 2020flip

212 Beatrice Zucca Micheletto

were quite different for girls, for whom the stay in the institution could
be the only opportunity to spend a decent life.
All the institutions were committed to safeguard the sexual honor of
women and girls, as well as to protect them from the risk of a dissolute
life. Since this was the main goal of their stay in the institution, less
importance was given to training, although, as previously explained,
some female inmates could be trained in a trade and gain a respectable
position in specific sectors of the labour market.
This cultural and ideological model permeated other Turinese
charity institutions, especially those founded in the eighteenth
century, such as the Casa delle Forzate and the Opera di San Giovanni
di Dio (known also as Ospizio delle Rosine) and was grounded in the
idea that the development of female skills spendable in the labour
market were not a priority for women, whose natural duties were to be
wives and mothers, irrespective of their social backgrounds. In this
perspective, girls were firstly trained in good housekeeping, cooking
and caring for the other household members; they were taught sewing,
ironing, embroidering and needle work, all activities that were
consistent with social expectations and that would be useful both in
case they married or if they remained at the institution. The most
significant difference was that for girls from lower classes, training in
a craft aimed to provide them with basic skills useful for making an
honest living, rather than to lead them towards a real professional
path. Girls from the middle classes (such as those who were hosted at
the Casa del Soccorso, and Deposito), instead, were expected to
perform ‘female’ activities that were appropriate for girls of their social
standing, and were aimed at steering them away from idleness and
temptation and at teaching them good manners, even if, of course,
they were not required to work to earn a livelihood .
36
These social differences are essential to our understanding of work
in charity institutions. As pointed out by recent research, since the
second half of the eighteenth century, the Casa del Soccorso and the
Deposito shifted from their original aim of assistance towards explicit
educational purposes that were targeted mainly for middle class girls.
Since at least 1763, therefore, together with learning ‘female’ craft
activities and supervising housekeeping, girls started to learn writing,
reading and arithmetic, while they were no longer required to perform
menial works (such as cleaning and cooking) .
37

36 M. Maritano, Le Case del Soccorso, cit., pp. 144-148.
37 Ibid., pp. 155-157. On this point see also S. Cavallo, Assistenza ed educazione in
età moderna, in A. Cantaluppi, W. Crivellin, B. Signorelli (eds.), Le figlie della Compagnia
cit, pp. 39-48.

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