The Innocents of Florence: The Renaissance Discovery of Childhood

The history of a home for abandoned children is unpacked against the backdrop of the Italian Renaissance in this beguiling study from Luzzi (Botticelli’s Secret), a literature professor at Bard. Europe’s first institute for unwanted children was founded in the wake of the Black Death, which killed two-thirds of Florentines and cultivated an increased sense of civic responsibility in the surviving populace. Built with money bequeathed by merchant Francesco Datini and designed in ornate style by Filippo Brunelleschi, the Innocenti opened in 1445, accepting 90 children within its first year. Though it was founded on a growing recognition of the need to cultivate in children of all classes “essential human qualities” (including purpose and appreciation for art), the institute was often torn between its mission and the need to remain financially viable, with directors acquiring expensive artworks to elevate its profile (sometimes at the expense of budgets devoted to the children’s food) and putting its charges to work. Luzzi takes a compassionate and intimate approach to this history, stitching in memories of how he became a single parent after his wife’s death (“Like the Renaissance parents who failed to care for children they abandoned, I too had produced an ‘innocent’ ”), yet he doesn’t shy away from documenting the ways in which the institute failed those in its care. It’s a vivid window into the origins of child welfare and a colorful portrait of Renaissance Italy. (Nov.)