Il “reclusorio pei discoli” di Bologna Indagine storico-educativa sulle pratiche di internamento dei soggetti devianti e marginali

Abstract

In the historical-educational research there are sectors where one is necessarily forced to consider a combination of marginal data, clues and other elements in order to reconstruct a history which otherwise would be impossible to understand. In the present paper it will be illustrate the conclusions of an investigation whose main purpose is to reconstruct, in its historical and educational aspects, the functioning of Reclusorio pei discoli (House of Correction), found in Bologna on 29 July 1822 by Cardinal Legate Giuseppe Spina’s will devoted to the confinement and rehabilitation of people accused to be dangerous for the community and the public order. Why there was the need to develop a house of correction in a city like Bologna? We will try to give an answer to this question by investigating the city’s socio-economic and cultural-religious aspects in the Restoration period. Moreover, the power dynamics will be considered. In particular, it will be analysed the control measures, the discipline and the hardworking life together with the internal practices which inmates were subjected to. The daily routine of inmates and the organization of the Reclusorio are, from a pedagogical perspective, full of implications. The focus of the present research has been the concept of education as conceived in Bologna in the Restoration period. Indeed it has been fascinating to trace the exemplary educational journey marked by symbolic practices and customs carried out according to a dual mode. One aimed to supervise, contain, correct and punish and the other aimed to reshape the inmates’ personality through the practice of Christian values, the obedience, the submission, the body contentment and the community life.