The holidays of the boarders of the Arici College in Brescia
To celebrate the end of the school year and the long-awaited end of school, we dedicate today’s column to the holidays of the boarders of the Jesuit colleges.
We have already opened a small window on the everyday life of boarding school life, talking about the school activities of those enrolled at the Mondragone College, today we delve into a different aspect from the daily routine of lessons and exercises.
After a long school year, even for boarders in the past, holidays arrived, not before the end of examinations – to which the gymnasium and high school students were called, but also all the internees for the passage of the year, which took place through ‘academies’ or small essays.
School ended later than today, towards the end of June, and from the first week of July the boarders were free to return to their families.
The Company’s boarding schools also had an educational and recreational offer for the summer period.
For the boarders of the Arici College in Brescia, for example, it was possible to choose between the sea and the mountains.
The Jesuits in fact proposed a summer camp in Moneglia, where the boys would be housed in a residence not far from the sea. Otherwise, those who preferred to spend their holidays in the mountains could stay in Cevo. Pictured are groups of boys at the seaside and the Cevo residence in the brochures given to the families. The price lists of the period are preserved.
For example, for a holiday in Cevo, the fee was 14 lire a day for primary school students, 16 for secondary school students and 18 for high school students; the fee included board, lodging, snacks and excursions.
We also know, thanks to the documentation, the food: soup or pasta, meat dish with garnish, main course, fruit or cheese or dessert.
For a snack, bread and jam or bread and chocolate, and for supper, soup and a meat dish with garnish, with fruit or dessert, remembering that Cevo is a thousand metres above sea level and the climate – albeit – summer – required a substantial energy supply. In fact, the trousseau, necessary for each convict, specifies “sturdy woollen clothing and iron shoes”.
During the months of September and October, the boarders returned to school, at which time the newly enrolled were accompanied by their families to the boarding school; the boarding school diaries are always harbingers of much information regarding the pupils’ admissions.
Maria Macchi
