From urchins to sailors: an educative and civic experiment in Naples (1913-1928)

In 1913-1928 years, Naples was internationally important because of an original educational experience, which was realized on the Training Ship "Caracciolo". To manage this Ship was called Giulia Civita Franceschi (1870-1957), who hosted over 750 abandoned male children and boys, offering them the opportunity of a civil, health and decorous life. It has been possible to re-build Civita's Method through the discovery of a private Archive, that now is maintained in the Maritime Museum of Naples. In the experience of the training Ship "Caracciolo" the sea was considered the "educational principle"; but the Ship was not only a training school to apprentice maritime handcrafts. It was rather a community in which every child was considered in his own needs and also encouraged to develop his personal capacities. On the 13rd of July 1911 an appropriate Law was approved to give the Ship to the city of Naples, to save orphans and abandoned children. When the Ship stared its activities, in Italy other two training ships were operating: the "Garaventa" in Genoa and the "Scilla" in Venice. Nevertheless, Naples's experiment, thanks to Civita's method, was something different and very dissimilar as regards institutions like orphanages and reformatory ships. The manager, Giulia Civita Franceschi leaded the Ship up to 1928. In this year, the Fascism Regime removed her from his charge, interrupting authoritatively the educational experience