"Raised by a nun": testing the family story against the records

Family oral history: Pirro was abandoned in the foundling wheel and looked after / raised by a nun.

What the records say so far

• No wheel. Pirro was born inside the hospital, at Via Galli Tassi 27, where the Sala di Maternità was attached (Lucca 1901 birth act 388). His birth was reported by Carlo Celli, “the official delegated by the Superiore dello Spedale”. The family memory of “the wheel” probably merges with the general foundling story. Wheels were being abolished across Italy in the later 19th century (Milan closed its torno in 1868; the 1923 regulation abolished them nationally). Lucca’s closing date is not yet confirmed.
• After birth, a hospital foundling normally stayed a few days to weeks in the brefotrofio ward, where the infants were nursed by nursing sisters and in-house wet nurses. They were then sent out to a country wet nurse (balia) and later a foster family (tenutario), often until age 12–15 or longer. The institution remained guardian until 21. For Pirro that was still true in Sept 1920.
• So “a nun looked after him” fits two well-documented scenarios:
  1. Early infancy in the brefotrofio (days to months), cared for by the sisters of the hospital. This is near-certain for any foundling born there.
  2. Return to the institution: if a foster placement failed, or a sickly child came back, children were “rientrati” and lived in the Ospizio under the sisters, sometimes for years. That would make “raised by a nun” literally true. The brefotrofio register (ASLu unit 4326) and dimessi/rientrati registers would show it.
  3. A third, local possibility: sisters running a nursery school (asilo) or parish work in Gello / San Giuliano Terme, near the foster home.
• Which order? Not yet established for Lucca around 1900. Sources mention nursing nuns at the Galli Tassi hospital during WWII (POW ward, 1942–43; ilgiornaleletterario.it). The complex also absorbed the church and monastery of Santa Giustina (it.wikipedia). The 1886 Regolamento dei RR. Spedali ed Ospizi di Lucca (Lucca, Giusti; 512 pp., 1421 articles; cited by Bongi 1888, p. 217, in Bongi_1888_…excerpt.pdf) should name the sisters’ congregation and their duties in the brefotrofio. Ask ASLu or the Biblioteca Statale di Lucca for a copy.

Where the hospital was: and a coincidence from 2015

• The old hospital complex (Spedale di San Luca → Regi Spedali → “Galli Tassi”) covers the block bounded by Via San Tommaso, Via Galli Tassi, Via San Paolino, Piazzale Verdi and Piazzale San Donato (it.wikipedia; Museo Galileo). Today it is the courthouse (Palazzo di Giustizia); two side wings hold municipal offices.
• The former hospital section on this block now houses the municipal registry office (anagrafe). The 2015 birth extract was issued by “Servizi demografici – Ufficio Stato civile, Via San Paolino 140”. In 2015 the family were sent to an office inside the same hospital complex where Pirro was born.
• Historical maps saved by the maps agent: ../maps_palazzo_galli_tassi/ (Catasto CASTORE sheets of Section C3 with the hospital; 1820/1893/1896/1926 city plans; a 19th-c. BnF plan with “no. 39 Spedale San Luca” detail).

Questions added for the archive

• Which congregation of sisters served the brefotrofio / Sala di Maternità c. 1901–1915?
• Was Pirro ever returned (rientrato) to the institution, and for how long?
• Is there a staff file (personale) or a register of the suore naming the sister in charge of the foundlings?

Update 2026-10-17 (later)

• Which order: the Suore di Carità dell’Immacolata Concezione d’Ivrea (“Istituto d’Ivrea”) were the nurses of the RR. Spedali di Lucca from 1847. They are documented there in 1855, 1867 and 1871, and ran the Santa Giustina orphans’ home inside the complex. They are probably still there in 1901, but no source from 1890–1920 has been found yet. Details and sources: brefotrofio_research_notes_A-F.md. The congregation history (with its Lucca chapter) is saved as Suore_Carita_Ivrea_Un_solco_nella_Chiesa_storia_congregazione_Lucca1847.pdf. → Ask the congregation’s own archive (Suore di Carità dell’Immacolata Concezione d’Ivrea, Casa Generalizia, Rome, or the Ivrea mother house) for the sisters assigned to the Lucca hospital or brefotrofio around 1900–1915. Religious orders keep personnel books (libri delle suore), and a sister’s name may match the family’s “nun”.
• “Nina Gagliardi”, a nun found by the family: source not yet recorded; ask where it came from. FamilySearch full-text search and web searches found no nun of that name (checked 2026-10-17). Things to consider:
  • Lucca foundling surnames were invented and by law could not be an existing family’s surname (R.D. 15 Nov 1865 n. 2602 art. 58). A nun called Gagliardi would therefore be a coincidence. Or the reverse: a sister who looked after Pirro could have been remembered by the family under his surname.
  • “Nina” is usually a diminutive of Giovanna, Caterina or Antonia. In religion she would have a different name (Suor Maria X). If the record names her congregation, check it against the Ivrea sisters.
  • If she was in Brazil, an Italian nun called Gagliardi in São Paulo could have kept in touch with the family after emigration.

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Source note: 01_italy_lucca/brefotrofio_history/nun_oral_history_and_hospital_notes.md