Charity and family subsistence : Florence in the nineteenth century

Abstract

Stuart J. Woolf, Charity and family subsistence : Florence in the nine-teenth century, p. 917-934. How charitable organizations identified which poor to assist was a permanent problem, given that the demand always exceeded the supply. The largest outdoor relief institution in 18th-19th century Florence, the Congregazione di San Giovanni di Dio, concentrated on assisting the family in its home at moments of crisis of life-course or family cycle. The Congregation required considerable information about the supplicants' family relationships, age and earnings, paid personal visits to their homes and checked the veracity of the information. To be " poor " (povero) was inadequate, to be "wretched" (miserabile) signified inability to meet minimum subsistence needs. Absence of kin, inadequate earnings, large families and poor health were criteria employed to identify the (p. t. o.) most deserving; social and moral considerations, such as recommendations or protection of orphans and female, honour, also played a role. In terms of the families requesting aid, outdoor relief was only one of a range of strategies of survival.