Patterns of poor-relief and patterns of poverty in eighteenth-century Italy: the evidence of the Turin Ospedale di Carità

Abstract

L'analyse des anciens systèmes d'assistance aux pauvres est encore essentiellement fondé sur l'idée que le besoin est le critère clé pour identifier et mesurer la pauvreté. L'article critique cette approche et attire l'attention sur l'importance qu'il y a d'explorer les catégories de statut (celui-ci défini par les limites de protection et d'interdépendance entre riches et pauvres). Ce statut établit une distinction parmi les pauvres et différencie leur accés à l'assistance. Basé sur une abondante documentation provenant de plus importante institution charitable à Turin, l'article pose deux questions: qui reçoit du secours? Quels sont les critères de sélection? Ensuite il étudie la relation entre des différents types d'assistance que procure l'hôpital et les modes de survie adoptés par les pauvres. L'article démontre également que les définitions des pauvres dignes d'assistance ne reflètent que partiellement ‘la structure de la pauvrete’. On les représente ici par des graphiques du pouvoir et par des types de relations verticales.

Reconsidering Women's Labor Force Participation Rates in Eighteenth-Century Turin

“…To prove this and overcome the obstacle, research should mobilize additional sources such as the registers of applicants to the Ospedale di Carità. This latter was the most important charitable institution of Turin during the eighteenth century (Cavallo 1990(Cavallo , 1995 In conclusion, it is correct that the notion of the male breadwinner remained to be formally elaborated during the nineteenth century (Humphries 1977, Morris 1990, Janssens 1997 nevertheless, a comparison between a conventional source (the Napoleonic census) and an alternative source (the registers of the Ospedale di Carità) proves that the idea of a household economy based on the only/main breadwinner -male or female -was already well established in the eighteenth century and not only among the officials of the town but also among common people who had to describe themselves, as was the case with the Napoleonic census xv . Especially, there is evidence that the Napoleonic census seriously undercounts married women labor force rates.…”

Reconsidering the southern Europe model: Dowry, women's work and marriage patterns in pre-industrial urban Italy (Turin, second half of the 18th century)

“…35 In order to find evidence about married women's work, I studied people recorded in the registers of the most important charitable institution in Turin during the 18th century, the Ospedale di Carità (Cavallo, 1990(Cavallo, , 1995. This gave relief to a great range of people in situations of economic difficulty: paupers, orphans, abandoned children, lonely and isolated people, couples and families with numerous small children, widows and widowers.…”

Only unpaid labour force? Women's and girls' work and property in family business in early modern Italy

“…611 couples out of the 1270 couples who practiced a profession 18 . These data are confirmed by the registers of the applicants to the Ospedale di Carità, the most important charitable institution in the city (Cavallo, 1990(Cavallo, , 1995. These registers, in fact, show that only a quarter of couples, which amounted to 903 out of the 3757 households, were involved in the same profession 19 .…”