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Working in and for charity institutions: patterns of employment and actors 215

the more ‘veteran’ inmates could remain at the charity and train other
boys and girls. Such was the case of Gio Andrea Vacca who, in May
1758, having obtained his mastery as silk weaver at the Albergo di
Virtù, made successful request to the board office to be appointed
internal master weaver in velvet and brocade. Vacca was assigned 3
boys as apprentices and had to pay the Albergo 5 lire for each one of
them .
44
At the Soccorso, Deposito and Forzate the inmates were supervised
by the ‘Madri’ (lit. ‘mothers’) who lived in the institutions; for this
reason, the task was always assigned to widows or unmarried women,
almost all between thirty and forty years of age. The Madre could rely
on the support of a so-called ‘sottomadre’ (lit. sub-mother) at the
Soccorso, and of a ‘governante’ (governess) at the Deposito and Forzate.
In addition, girls were educated by the ‘maestre’ (teachers/mistresses)
charged with both imparting practical training and teaching basic
grammar: since the seventeenth and until the nineteenth century these
‘maestre’ were recruited among the most skilled and capable veteran
inmates, who, for several reasons, were unable to leave the institution.
On the same premises there were also one or more servants, a physician
and a surgeon, and at the Deposito and Forzate a porter who was often
sent on errands outside the institution’s walls .
45

Artisans and entrepreneurs between profit and paternalism

As previously explained, since the seventeenth century, and at least
until the nineteenth century, the most important charity institutions
in Piedmont and Savoy housed big textile factories and craft
workshops which were rented out to entrepreneurs, merchants and
artisans, who in turn, were expected to organize work, employ external
workers, and apprentices alongside inmates and children, train
children in the crafts and supply commodities to both almshouses and
private customers. Despite the key role played by these entrepreneurs
and artisans, scholars have seldom taken into account their personal
lives, focusing mostly on individuals receiving relief or else on
benefactors. In this last section of the article, therefore, I will explore
the profile of some of these artisans, merchants and entrepreneurs
through a micro-analytical and biographical approach. I will recon-
struct the essential points of their biography and professional paths
while focusing on their social, political and family background. This

44 Ast, sez. riun., Albergo di Virtù, Registro degli ordinati, vol. 54, ff. nn.
45 M. Maritano, Le Case del Soccorso, cit., pp. 140-144.

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