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Working in and for charity institutions: patterns of employment and actors 221

manufactures thanks to an economic privilege granted by the king,
and eventually become fully integrated in the Turinese social
environment.

Conclusion

This article has focused on the range of trades and jobs available
in the most important charity institutions of preindustrial Savoy-
Piedmont and in Turin. It has shown that inmates could be hired as
apprentices or low-skilled workers in workshops run by appointed
artisans or in larger manufactories. In addition, external workers and
inmates could be employed in a range of activities (from service to
clerical work) performed to ensure the ordinary maintenance of the
institution and inmates’ necessities. Within these different working
environments, especially during the eighteenth century, the majority
of the institutions emphasized the importance of training youth,
offering concrete opportunities to acquire some skills through the
apprenticeship. In this perspective, it would be too simplistic to
conclude that poor people were only a passive cheap labour force ready
to be exploited. On the one hand, the policy of the charity institutions,
supported by the central power, was based on a mixture of pater-
nalistic and repressive ideologies: poor people – but also beggars and
vagrants – had to be relegated and educated through the discipline of
work; at the same time, they had to have the opportunity to join the
labour market and gain an honest living. On the other hand, the poor
relegated in these institutions could of course suffer from restrictions
and discipline, but in some cases they were able to take advantage of
their position, acquire skills, and even mastery, and guild mem-
bership. As a consequence, entrance in the charity institution did not
entail (only, and always) lack of freedom, but could become an
opportunity, to such an extent that people asking for relief did not
hesitate to resort to recommendations and patronage links. Yet, these
professional patterns were strongly influenced by specific models of
femininity and masculinity: if for boys training and skills were a
priority and aimed at entering the labour market, girls were especially
encouraged to learn and perform ‘female activities’, from cooking and
housekeeping to sewing and mending, in order to ensure primarily the
good care of their family.
This article has also studied another group of people working for
charity institutions: entrepreneurs, merchants and artisans who were
able to build up different kinds of labour relationships with the
institutions. Despite the variedness in this group, in the individual

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