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Working in and for charity institutions: patterns of employment and actors 213

Like other Italian institutions, and at least in theory, at the
Ospedale di Carità girls could be also hired to external families as
domestic servants . It is likely that in order to protect the girls, private
38
agreements were signed between the institution and the receiving
families, with the consequence that these records have not been
preserved in the Ospedale’s archives. Finally, poor families were
encouraged to place their daughters in charity institutions also
because in case of marriage they would be provided with a dowry (a
‘dote elemosinaria’).
We cannot establish exactly how many youths were trained in
charity institutions. The workshop census of the city carried out in
1792 registered five apprentices from the Ospedale di San Giovanni
(‘figli dell'Ospedale’) placed with shoemakers, three in bakeries, and
one with a silk weaver, while 26 ‘apprentices of the Albergo di Virtù’
worked with silk weavers and 8 with silk stocking-makers. As in the
guilds, the apprentices trained in the charity institutions experienced
high rates of mobility to such a point that, since the seventeenth
century, the Albergo di Virtù forbade youths from leaving before the
end of their apprenticeship, and prohibited masters from hiring former
apprentices from the Albergo who lacked their benservito certificate .
39
When evaluating the reasons of these high exit rates, we should not
underestimate the harsh conditions that children faced and that
probably encouraged them to flee, despite the offered prospects.
Indeed, if poor families were ready to resort strategically to charity
institutions, the life of the inmates was neither easy nor comfortable.
At the Ospedale they were obliged to wear a uniform, and at the
Soccorso, Deposito and Forzate women and girls were required to dress
‘modestly and without vanity’ . A typical day in the institution was
40
organized around work and religious education. Discipline was a
crucial issue: at the Ospedale di Carità, for example, inmates were
required to go to work immediately after the bell ring, and those who
were late or absent lost their salary (even if they were ill). When not
working, adults and children were committed to pray, sing and listen
to the recitation of holy texts. In addition, silence had to be always

38 For Florence and Milan see: D. Lombardi, F. Reggiani, Da assistita a serva. Circuiti
di reclutamento delle serve attraverso le istituzioni assistenziali (Firenze-Milano, XVII-
XVIII sec.), in S. Cavaciocchi (ed.), La donna nell’economia secc. XIII-XVIII, Atti della
Ventunesima Settimana di Studi dell’Istituto Datini, Prato, 10-15 aprile 1989, Le
Monnier, Firenze, 1990, pp. 301-319.
39 F. A. Duboin, Raccolta, tomo 13, vol. 15, libro 7, Ricorso (…) e relativo decreto del
consiglio dell’Albergo col quale si vieta ai giovani ivi ricoverati d’uscirne prima del tempo
prefisso (…), p. 209.
40 M. Maritano, Le Case del Soccorso cit., p. 137.

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