«Importa moltissimo che il bambino senta il bisogno della nettezza come sente quello del pane, del gioco, del riposo». L’educazione igienica negli asili tra età giolittiana e scoppio della prima guerra mondiale

The paper presents a study on the role of health education in kindergartens during the Giolitti era. Up to World War I, in the absence of official infant education programmes and teacher training schools, kindergarten educators mainly learned about health promotion from education manuals and journals. Analysis of these sources suggests that the growing emphasis on hygienics in late nineteenth-century elementary schools was also reflected across the infant school sector. A further theme of the present research was the 1914 ministerial programs for kindergartens, which institutionalized good health practices, endowing them with a pervasive and crosscutting role. This study investigated the aims and methodologies that underpinned the teaching of hygienics in infant schools, as well as the broader social meaning attributed to it.