The Experience of the Conservatorio della Pietà dei Turchini (1584–1807)

The reconstruction of the functioning mechanisms of the Conservatorio della Pietà dei Turchini, taken as a model for Neapolitan music education institutions (The entire archival heritage relating to the ancient Neapolitan conservatories is kept in the Archive of the Conservatory of St. Peter in Majella in Naples. Our research was conducted between 1984 and 1996. In those years, for the first time the Archival Superintendency for Campania, after the studies of Salvatore Di Giacomo, began a phase of reorganization of that very important historical archive that we partly shared. The only Conservatory to have received complete cataloging and filing up to that point was that of the Turchini), allows, through the examination of its financing and expenditure flows, to analyze various problems. Among these is the question of whether there is continuity or rupture with the more traditional welfare structure.