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Gagliardi Family Archive

Lucca brefotrofio: research notes (questions A–F)

Accessed 2026-10-17. Each point is marked VERIFIED (seen in a primary or printed source) or INFERRED (reasoning, not yet documented). Quotes are kept short. Local copies of sources are listed at the end.

A. Which nuns staffed the Lucca hospital and brefotrofio?

Section titled “A. Which nuns staffed the Lucca hospital and brefotrofio?”
  • VERIFIED (1847). The Suore di Carità dell’Immacolata Concezione d’Ivrea came to Lucca in 1847. It was their first house outside Piedmont, and their first hospital outside Rivarolo. They started with a military hospital.
    • Source: congregation history Un solco nella Chiesa (scicivrea.it). Local copy: Suore_Carita_Ivrea_Un_solco_nella_Chiesa_storia_congregazione_Lucca1847.pdf.
    • Search the text for “Lucca”: about lines 1025, 1093, 1119 and 1596 of the extracted text.
  • VERIFIED (1855). Almanacco Toscano per l’anno 1855, entry for the “RR. Spedali ed Ospizj del Compartimento di Lucca” (archive.org id bub_gb_Y5fOnwLsZxsC):
    • The Ivrea sisters were the nurses (“compiono l’ufficio di Infermiere”). They also ran the kitchen and the linen.
    • Three “Suore di Carità” worked at the Manicomio di Fregionaia.
    • The Ospizio delle Orfane detto di Santa Giustina was run by two Suore di Carità.
    • Other staff named: Director Torello Pianigiani; Curato Don Domenico Sodini; Camera Ostetrica (maternity) directed by Dr Frediano Luigi Nerici.
  • VERIFIED (1861–1871). Appendice ai miei Cenni intorno alla amministrazione generale dei RR. Spedali ed Ospizii di Lucca dal 24 febbraio 1861 al 9 marzo 1869 (Lucca 1871; archive.org bub_gb_agq5ZMJDinEC). The former director praises “le Pie Suore di Carità dell’Istituto d’Ivrea”. The sisters held the linen stores (“Suora Guardarobiera”), ran the kitchen, and served the Manicomio.
  • VERIFIED (1867). A pamphlet records a dispute over cutting the number of sisters: Spedali di Lucca. Suore di carità – riduzione di numero – ricorso. Deliberazione della Deputazione provinciale e documenti relativi (Lucca, Giusti, 1867, 92 pp.). It is listed in Bibliografia italiana 1867, no. 3032 (archive.org bibliografiaita00italgoog).
  • For contrast (VERIFIED). Other institutions in Lucca had different orders, so they should not be confused with the hospital:
    • The Pia Casa di Beneficenza got “Suore della Carità dell’Istituto di Parigi detto di San Giuseppe” from 1 June 1855. The same order already served the women’s prison. Source: Salvatore Bongi nella cultura dell’Ottocento (ASLu 2003), archive.org 76b.-salvatore-bongi-nella-cultura-dell-ottocento_202508, vol. a.
    • The Almanacco 1855 lists Suore della Carità di S. Vincenzo de’ Paoli at an institute in Livorno, not in Lucca.
  • INFERRED (c. 1900–1920). Most likely the Ivrea Sisters of Charity were still the hospital and brefotrofio sisters in 1901. They are documented continuously from 1847 to at least 1871, and nothing found shows them being replaced. However, no source dated 1890–1920 naming the order has been found yet.
    • The Ministre degli Infermi (Barbantini, Lucca) did nursing in homes and private clinics. Nothing ties them to the Regi Spedali.
    • The Zitine and Oblate: no evidence found.
    • Next steps: the 1886 Regolamento dei RR. Spedali ed Ospizi di Lucca (SBN IT\ICCU\LUA\0114424; held at Biblioteca Statale di Lucca and the ASLu library), or an annual Guida/Annuario di Lucca c. 1900.

B. The ruota (foundling wheel) in Lucca

Section titled “B. The ruota (foundling wheel) in Lucca”
  • VERIFIED (c. 1840s–1864). Lucca’s “spedale centrale” had a ruota. It also had a long-standing practice of accepting gettatelli outside the ruota:
    • with a certificate from the parish priest or local magistrate attesting illegitimacy, or
    • through public midwives, who declared on their responsibility that the child was of an unmarried mother.
    • Source: Andreucci, Della carità ospitaliera in Toscana, 1864, note 524, citing Zuccagni-Orlandini (archive.org dellacaritospit00andrgoog).
  • VERIFIED (31 Dec 1877). The ruota still existed (“esiste tuttora”) in the comuni of Lucca, Barga and Pietrasanta. In the province of Pisa it existed in Pisa, Rosignano Marittimo, Terricciola and Volterra; note b says these were “in massima soppresse” with no replacement system yet.
  • VERIFIED (1885–87). The 1888 Ministry of the Interior inquiry, Statistica delle cause di morte… 1886 / Provvedimenti a favore dei bambini esposti… 1885-86-87, Tav. I p. 96.
    • Circondario di Lucca: 24 comuni. The ruota was still open in 2 comuni, and had been closed before 1870 in 1. 17 boys and 24 girls were found alive in the ruota in 1885–87.
    • Circondario di Pisa: ruota still open in 2 comuni; 5 boys and 9 girls found in it.
    • Source: archive.org b2197729x. Local copy of the page: Statistica_esposti_1885-87_TavI_ruote_per_circondario_Lucca_p96.jpg.
    • The same report says that nationally ruote “nell’Italia settentrionale e centrale… sono scomparse quasi del tutto”. Lucca was one of the exceptions.
  • VERIFIED (oral/secondary). Raffaele Domenici, round table at ASLu, 10 Dec 2021 (YouTube 78WXz8F9Ib8, about minutes 53–54):
    • One of the city’s ruote was in via della Zecca, by the former enclosed nuns’ monastery.
    • The infants were then taken to the San Luca hospital, later the hospital in via Galli Tassi.
  • NOT FOUND: the exact closing date of the Lucca city ruota. Nationally, ruote were abolished by R.D. 16 Dec 1923 n. 2900.
  • For Pirro (per the birth act found by another agent): he was born in the hospital maternity ward (Via Galli Tassi 27). The birth was declared by a hospital official. He was not a ruota case, whatever the status of the ruota in 1901.

C. Wet nurses and foster placement; does Gello make sense?

Section titled “C. Wet nurses and foster placement; does Gello make sense?”
  • VERIFIED (system).
    • The Lucca brefotrofio placed infants with outside balie, then with tenutari (foster farming families).
    • 1885–87 pay scale (Lucca): 12 lire a month in year 1, 9 in year 2, 6 in years 3–5, then less up to age 10. A 60-lire premium went to the tenutario who kept the foundling to age 18 (boys) or 25 (girls). A dowry of 150 lire went to girls who married before 25. Lucca’s assistance limit was age 10.
    • Source: archive.org b2197729x, the “Lucca” entry, p. 125 of the volume.
    • Domenici (2021) adds that infants were kept in the brefotrofio up to age 5 if not placed. Unplaced older children went to the Grande Reclusorio or Ospizi.
    • Instructions for wet nurses and foster carers exist:
      • Istruzioni per i signori parrochi e per le balie e tenutari delle creature illegittime appartenenti al R. Spedale degli esposti di Lucca (1850, Lucca, Giusti, 44 pp.).
      • Istruzioni per la tenuta fuori dell’ospizio degli Esposti dei RR. Spedali ed Ospizi di Lucca (Lucca, Giusti, 1886). SBN IT\ICCU\CUB\0348829, held at Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale di Firenze. An edition is also listed in BPI 1951, no. 1387.
  • VERIFIED (parallel case). Il Telegrafo, 18 July 1934 (archive.org telegrafo-1934-07-18):
    • A boy born c. 1884 in Buggiano was handed to the “Brefotrofio di Lucca”, which gave him the name Angelo Rossetti.
    • He was placed with a farming (colonica) family at Bargecchia near Viareggio, who kept him until age 20.
    • This shows the Lucca brefotrofio placing children with peasant families who kept them into adulthood. The placement here was inside the province of Lucca.
  • INFERRED (Gello). No document yet shows the Lucca brefotrofio placing infants in the province of Pisa. Gello (comune Bagni di San Giuliano) is a few km over the Lucca–Pisa border in the lower Serchio plain, so a cross-border placement is plausible. A Lucca ward living in Gello at 19 makes sense if:
    • (a) his tenutario family lived there, perhaps having moved there after the placement, or
    • (b) he was working there as a farm hand while still under the Spedali’s guardianship.
    • His being a ward of Lucca at 19 is legally normal. Under Codice civile 1865 art. 262, children admitted to hospices without known relatives are entrusted to the hospice administration as guardian. Majority was 21. That explains the president’s consent to the 1920 marriage.
  • To check: the brefotrofio registers and libretti of the balia/tenutario (ASLu, Regi Spedali ed Ospizi, brefotrofio series). They will name the foster family and village.

D. How foundlings got their surnames

Section titled “D. How foundlings got their surnames”
  • VERIFIED (law).
    • Codice civile 1865, art. 378: when a child is handed to a public hospice, the hospice administration must tell the registrar “il nome e cognome dato al fanciullo e il numero d’ordine”. So the hospice chose the name.
    • Ordinamento dello stato civile, R.D. 15 Nov 1865 n. 2602, art. 58: the registrar gives children of unknown parents a name and surname, avoiding ones that are ridiculous or “tali da lasciar sospettare l’origine”. The registrar must not use surnames of known families, surnames as first names, or city names as surnames.
    • Ministry circulars of the 1870s–80s repeatedly condemned ridiculous or shameful names given to trovatelli (Annali di statistica 1871; Rivista della beneficenza pubblica 1887).
  • VERIFIED (Lucca examples).
    • 1860s gettatelli of the Ospizio di S. Luca: Alessio Robusti, Perfetta Orfanelli, Flavia Erbanti (1871 Appendice).
    • c. 1884: Angelo Rossetti (Telegrafo 1934).
    • Lucca used invented, often descriptive-adjective surnames.
  • INFERRED. “Gagliardi” (gagliardo = sturdy, vigorous) fits this pattern exactly; compare “Robusti”. It was almost certainly invented by the Spedali when he was admitted. There is no reason to look for a biological Gagliardi family.

E. Projects, publications and databases

Section titled “E. Projects, publications and databases”
  • ASLu fonds “Regi Spedali ed Ospizi di Lucca” (1808–1985, about 4,475 units). Inventory by Michela Molitierno, with Veronica Bagnai Losacco as scientific lead, 2016–2020. It was funded by the Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio di Lucca and published on SAN/SIAS via Archimista in 2021.
    • Brefotrofio records let you follow a child “dall’abbandono… fino all’affidamento familiare”, including the recognition tokens (segnali) left with infants and daily lists of admissions.
    • Pre-1808 series: “Libri dei trovatelli / figli del nostro ospedale / bambori” from 1401, in the fondo Ospedale di San Luca.
    • Source: ASLu 2021 convegno video (YouTube 6EQpPjx8W4w, minutes 13–45).
  • 2021 event “Sanità e infanzia abbandonata a Lucca tra XIX e XX secolo”. Study day on 10 Dec 2021 at the Ex Macelli; exhibition open until 28 Jan 2022.
  • Key books (from the SBN catalogue):
    • Raffaele Domenici, Disagio solidarietà accoglienza: gli Istituti per l’infanzia abbandonata a Lucca nella prima metà del Novecento (Lucca: M. Pacini Fazzi, 2016; 143 pp.; ISBN 978-88-6550-549-6). Held at Biblioteca Statale Lucca, ASLu library, Biblioteca Agorà and others. The best secondary source for 1901–1950.
    • Lucca si prende cura (Rotary club Lucca / Pacini Fazzi, 2014).
    • L. Dinelli, La beneficenza degli avi nostri (Lucca, 1911). Domenici cites this as by his great-grandfather.
    • M. V. Paradisi, Il vapore di Sassonia camminava come il vento (Fondazione Paolo Cresci, 2015), on the Pia Casa.
    • M. V. Paradisi, tesi di laurea (1992–93) on Pia Casa orphans.
    • M. Federighi, Dentro e fuori le mura (Pia Casa, 19th century).
    • Stefania Lami, PhD thesis, Pisa 2003: Infanzia abbandonata a Lucca nel Quattrocento (15th-century trovatelli register).
    • Provincia di Lucca, Assistenza agli esposti ed illegittimi: istituzione di un brefotrofio provinciale con annesso ospedalino pediatrico (Lucca: Amedei, 1929).
    • Regolamento dei RR. Spedali ed Ospizi di Lucca (Lucca: Giusti; the 1886 edition, per Bongi 1888). SBN LUA0114424. No digitized copy found on archive.org or Google Books; HathiTrust is blocked from here.
  • University theses: no unipi/unifi thesis on the Lucca brefotrofio c. 1800–1930 was found, apart from Lami (15th century).
  • Draft lists (leva).
    • ASLu holds “Ufficio di leva di Lucca, regg. 1.389 (classi 1833-1918)” (Guida generale 1983, p. 650), so class 1901 is in the right range.
    • But the leva law, art. 20 no. 8 (as printed in Il codice dei municipi, 1890; probably the T.U. 6 Aug 1888, carried forward in later texts), puts on each comune’s list “gli esposti dimoranti nel comune, ed i ricoverati negli ospizi che vi sono stabiliti”. As a foundling living in Gello, Pirro would therefore most likely be on the leva list of the Comune di Bagni di San Giuliano (circondario/Distretto militare di Pisa → Archivio di Stato di Pisa), not Lucca’s.
    • Whether he was resident in Gello in 1919–20, when class 1901 was enrolled, is INFERRED; check both. Lists usually note “esposto” or “figlio di ignoti”, and name the hospice.

F. Civil registration of the 1901 birth

Section titled “F. Civil registration of the 1901 birth”
  • VERIFIED (rules).
    • R.D. 1865 n. 2602, art. 52: the birth register receives birth declarations and the processi verbali of found children.
    • Art. 53 no. 5 adds transcriptions of hospice declarations of children handed over (c.c. art. 378).
    • Art. 59: the act names the hospice the child is sent to.
    • Anagrafe regulations: foundlings at nurse are entered in the population register of the comune where the hospice is. Once placed with allevatori, they are entered on that family’s household sheet in the family’s comune. So Gello / San Giuliano population registers may list him in his foster family’s household.
  • For a child born in the hospital maternity ward: the declaration was made by the hospital’s delegated official, “di genitori ignoti”. The name was supplied by the hospice. The act is in Part I of the Lucca 1901 births register (Pirro’s is act no. 388, per the other agent). Annotations (marriage 1920, any recognition or legitimation) go in the margin of the birth act (art. 54).
  • FamilySearch collections:
    • “Italy, Lucca, Lucca, Civil Registration (Tribunale), 1866-1929” (collection 2043811).
    • “Italy, Lucca, Civil Registration (Tribunale), 1866-1929” (collection 5000550).
  • Antenati: ASLu material online is mainly 1807–1814 Napoleonic civil registration plus draft lists. 1901 Lucca births come from the Tribunale copies via FamilySearch.

Local files

Section titled “Local files”
  • Guida_generale_Archivi_di_Stato_1983_vol2_ASLucca.pdf: Guida generale vol. II, Archivio di Stato di Lucca (maas.ccr.it). Covers the leva registers (classes 1833–1918) and the Spedale S. Luca → Spedali e ospizi fonds (1262–1936).
  • ISTAT_Movimento_stato_civile_1877_appendice_ruote_pp216-219_Lucca_ruota_esiste_1877.pdf and ISTAT_1877_appendice_p218_Lucca_Barga_Pietrasanta_ruota_esiste.png
  • Statistica_esposti_1885-87_TavI_ruote_per_circondario_Lucca_p96.jpg
  • Suore_Carita_Ivrea_Un_solco_nella_Chiesa_storia_congregazione_Lucca1847.pdf

Online texts consulted (archive.org identifiers)

Section titled “Online texts consulted (archive.org identifiers)”

dellacaritospit00andrgoog (Andreucci 1864) · bub_gb_agq5ZMJDinEC (Appendice 1871) · bub_gb_Y5fOnwLsZxsC (Almanacco Toscano 1855) · b2197729x (esposti 1885–87) · annalidistatist05commgoog (Annali di statistica 1884, ruote inquiry 1882) · telegrafo-1934-07-18 · actapontificiae01romagoog (S. Congr. Concilii c. 1906–07, Lucan. iuris funerandi: the hospital curate may baptize infants born in the maternity attached to the Regi Spedali) · ilcodicedeimunic00brio (1890 compilation: stato civile R.D. 1865, anagrafe, leva) · Codice civile 1865 on it.wikisource (arts. 262, 377–378).

Source note: 01_italy_lucca/brefotrofio_history/brefotrofio_research_notes_A-F.md