ABSTRACT
This chapter presents an overview of the debates about poor relief and health care that took place in southern Europe in the 18th and 19th centuries. Throughout the 18th and 19th centuries, the religious impulse to assist the poor remained strong. Biblical texts were repeatedly wheeled out to urge the faithful to this duty. Biblical texts were repeatedly wheeled out to urge the faithful to this duty. The instructions in Deuteronomy to support the poor, the practice of the early Christian Church described in Acts 4, and St Paul's appeal for equality in 2 Corinthians 8 was especially popular. The government of the new Italian Kingdom initially tried to reverse this centralizing trend. But after an official enquiry into the administrative costs of local charities, the State again took on a supervisory role, enshrined in the legislation introduced by Francesco Crispi in 1890. Each city, territory, and state had its own economic and social preoccupations, intellectual traditions and governing processes.
