The school as a common good in the hidden pedagogies of southern Italy between the XVIIIth and the XIXth century

Abstract

By means of analyzing largely unedited written sources, this research aims at highlighting some fragments of the heritage of intents, ideas and suggestions, as well as concrete actions, which developed between the second half of the XVIIIth century and the first half of the XIXth century in Southern Italy, when free public schools of reading and writing gradually started to spread. The above mentioned heritage revealed a “special” kind of sensitivity, attention and care towards school and education, which were perceived as a common, valuable and essential good for individual and collective well-being.