On the Traces of the First Italian Holiday Camps: Three Milanese Cases (1881–1910)

Abstract

This contribution aims to offer a reflection on the main pedagogical and organisational profiles of Italian climatic holiday camps at the end of the nineteenth century, focusing on three Milanese experiences: two of them, the Cura Climatica Gratuita ai Fanciulli Gracili, alunni delle scuole elementari comunali di Milano (for the pupils of municipal elementary schools in Milan), and the Colonie climatiche autunnali per fanciulli e fanciulle (for boys and girls), have as an emblematic connecting element the figure of the doctor and philanthropist Malachia De Cristoforis (1832–1915), a protagonist of the lively international debate on holiday camps taking place in those years; the third experience, the cure climatiche organised for the young guests of the Martinitt Orphanage, although a somewhat peculiar initiative in terms of the type of beneficiaries, shares some important traits with the previous ones, including the philanthropic character and the centrality attributed to immersion in nature, an element that ideally places the camps in the track of a centuries-old pedagogical reflection.