Cinzia Bonato. Molto più che pazienti

Early modern Genoa boasted one of the most effective systems of public assistance in Europe. Two central institutions stood at the heart of this system: the Albergo dei Poveri (the poorhouse), brilliantly studied by the late Edoardo Grendi, and the Ospedale di Pammatone, the subject of this valuable work by Cinzia Bonato, Molto più che pazienti: L’ospedale di Pammatone e la popolazione della Repubblica di Genova nel XVIII secolo. The hospital, founded in 1422 and initially dedicated primarily to women, from the end of the sixteenth century began to welcome all sick people, free of charge, and specialized in the care of foundlings. In the introduction of the work, Bonato makes clear that she intends to study the hospital as a place of exchange, using Marshall Sahlins’s reciprocity model as a theoretical framework. The institution provided jobs and medical assistance for the Genoese population, legal help to women who had been raped or abandoned, dowries for impoverished young females, and care for foundlings. At the same time, the Pammatone represented an instrument to cultivate consensus in the community: the government used it to ease social tensions, the ruling elites to cement their authority, and merchants and craftsmen to do business.

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