Syphilis, foundlings, and wetnurses in nineteenth-century Italy

In recent years a great deal has been written about the widespread practice of infant abandonment in the European past and about the foundling homes i nstituted for dealing with them. However, the relationship between infant a bandonment and syphilis has been little explored, despite the fact that fro m Spain to Russia the fear of syphilis played a major role in the functioni ng of the foundling system. This article examines the Italian case, and the experience of the foundling home of Bologna in the nineteenth century in p articular, to shed light on the nature of the syphilis-foundling link. Fear that the women employed to nurse the abandoned babies would contract syphi lis from the babies had major consequences for the foundling homes, yet mea sures that might help allay such fears came at the cost of much higher mort ality for all abandoned infants. The nature of the conflicts pitting foundl ing home officials against rural women and civil authorities is investigate d.