Charity and Power in Early Modern Italy: Benefactors and their Motives in Turin, 1541–1789 (Cambridge Studies in the History of Medicine)

by Sandra Cavallo

This is the first thorough study of charity and of medical and poor relief in post-Renaissance Italy. It departs from current interpretations by putting much greater emphasis on the various circumstances that motivated individual men and women to become involved in charity, and argues that conflicts and tensions in their social and political surroundings were crucial in prompting their charitable activity and defining perceptions of the needy.

280 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 1995

Reviews

[Victoria · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love this book. LOVE IT. Some missteps in chapter 4 (charity and gender), which was never quite properly integrated thematically into the rest of the work, but otherwise an excellent study. Effectively does what it says on the tin: examines charitable institutions and networks in early modern Turin (1541-1789), with an eye to the motivations of benefactors in the amount and type of donations given, and the manner in which it was dispensed. Draws on local politics and shifting mentalités to explain the changes in forms of charity (from outdoor relief, to baroque hospitals, to the notorious eighteenth-century workhouse), but could do better in uncovering the demography that might have impelled the development of attitudes.