«Moulding the peasant masses to make our Italy into a Nation». Ottavio Gigli and the National Association for the Founding of Rural Infant Schools, from the struggle against illiteracy to nationbuilding (1866-1873). Part One

ABSTRACT: Having gathered a rich collection of archive and printed material, the authors retrace the origins and significant developments of the National Association of Rural Infant Nurseries, the society founded in Florence in 1866 by the Roman man of letters and educationalist Ottavio Gigli with the support of some of the most distinguished figures of the political and cultural life of the newly unified state: Terenzio Mamiani, Carlo Matteucci, Bettino Ricasoli, Gino Capponi and Niccolò Tommaseo. The National Association of Rural Infant Schools was received with considerable favour by national public opinion and it generated a huge movement of support for the creation of nursery schools for the education of peasant children, especially in those rural areas where elementary schools founded as a result of the Casati law (1859) proved to be of little effect in addressing the problem of widespread illiteracy and completely ineffective in containing the massive scale of school absenteeism. The Association became the prime mover in a robust campaign for the radical reform of the Casati legislation regarding primary education and – based on the Anglosaxon model – for a greater presence of private initiatives and voluntary associations which were an expression of civil society