The contrasts between state and church over the establishment of kindergartens in Italy in the second half of the 19th century

Purpose The current work focuses on the early childhood education system and the spread of kindergartens across Italian territories in the second half of the 19th century. At least in the initial stages of their development, the Catholic Church strongly opposed their establishment. This led to a dualism between Northern Italy, where the emergence of kindergartens was encouraged, and Southern Italy, where there was strong alignment with the Church’s stance. In addition to briefly addressing the political debate among Catholic conservatives and liberals sparked by the emergence of infant schools, this work aims to reconstruct the coverage rates of these institutions at the district/provincial level in the years 1869 and 1892. Design/methodology/approach Using demographic methods, We relate the number of enrolled children in schools (also distinguished by gender) to the reference population of ages 3–5, accounting for survivorship. Findings The results suggest that the diffusion of kindergartens was largely a missed opportunity for Southern Italy. Originality/value To the best of our knowledge, this study is the first to map out the distribution of kindergartens across the entire national territory in the decades immediately following unification.