Introduzione

[Autom. eng. transl.] The historiography on charity has traditionally traced the great diffusion in the Counter-Reformation of pious legates of testamentary origin to the question of the salvation of souls in purgatory. The legates, however, have been scarcely investigated from a socio-economic point of view, although this aspect and the religious one were closely linked. Even their origins and long history have been little studied, passing through transformations of their legal form, their purposes and their functioning. At the center of the volume is the pious legacy understood as a device, the expression of a singular exchange, also because it is asymmetrical, between the individual and the institution. At the same time, legacies are analyzed as creators of a social context: even today, we are faced with a panorama of hospitals, charitable institutions, charitable institutions that represent the historical result of bequests that have evolved and enriched. Thanks to the contributions of various scholars, the volume thus sheds light on a topic of crucial importance for understanding the history of the Church, society and the economy.