Bambine, bambini e adolescenti nei Tacuina sanitatis miniati dei secoli XIV e XV

Abstract

The essay explores what historians of medieval childhood can infer from the illuminated Tacuina sanitatis (14^th - 15^th centuries), collections of rules and recommendations for the preservation of good health. They are based on precepts governing diet and healthy lifestyle. These miniatures have been, and continue to be, used to illustrate the many and varied issues affecting everyday life. There have also been those who have used them in relation to gender studies, but here they are analysed in the context of childhood, providing a further key to the interpretation of that phase of human life which is increasingly attracting the interest of historians.