L’educazione all’igiene infantile in tarda età giolittiana: l’asilo come “frontiera”

[Autom. eng. transl.] The contribution sheds light on the role assumed by pre-school institutions in the teaching of hygiene, following the indications provided by the first ministerial programs for kindergartens launched, as is well known, in 1914. The research starts from the analysis of that organization and the counting of the files of two of the most popular magazines for educators, namely "La Voce delle maestre d'asilo" and "Pro Infantia", in the months preceding and following the issue of that document. The survey shows that the reforming intent of the programs was shared and acknowledged by the scholastic publications in the sector and that, also taking into account those indications, those who dealt with childhood recognized that hygiene education, which had had a strong impulse since the second half of the nineteenth century, it had become a priority that could no longer be avoided. It is significant to point out that, in some cases, asylum was presented as a border area. While sharing the image of asylum proposed by the ministerial programs, or rather as a meeting place and synthesis between school and family, the two periodicals cited express the conviction that the preschool institute had, when needed, to be transformed into an "office of customs". It was therefore described as a "frontier" in its meaning as an impassable border or, in any case, as a defensive delimitation.