From urchins to sailors: an educative and civic experiment in Naples (1913-1928) - The story of “Caracciolo”, between poverty, social solidarity and education challenges.

Abstract

This paper proposes to examine Giulia Civita Franceschi’s work in the city of Naples, in favour of abandoned childhood. Between 1913 and 1928, she obtained by the Ministry of Navy and steered the training ship Caracciolo, which became for many urchins their home and family. So, they had the occasion to be saved from misery and delinquency. While before it they crowded streets, squares and arcades of the city, searching charity and ready to steel for surviving, on board ship they became little sailors, living a laborious and restrained life. Civita, inspiring to the concept of the sea as an educator, showed that thanks to her method, edged children and boys could become citizens, conscious of their rights and duties. The ship was site of visits by Italian and foreign delegations, which went to observe closer an educative experiment, considered as a pattern to imitate. The ship was a «second birth» for the Neapolitan urchins, offering them a new starting point, not an arrival point or a temporary protective recovery. The orientation impressed by Giulia Civita, in fact, marked the “Caracciolo” among other similar experiences as a unique educative pattern.