(c) Italy
As in other countries, the early attempts at school feeding in Italy were made by voluntary agencies. In many towns, towards the close of the nineteenth century, Committees of Assistance and Benevolent Funds were instituted to assist poor pupils in the elementary schools, chiefly in the matter of books and clothing, but in several communes of Lombardy and Romagna meals were also given. A small grant, which in 1897 was raised to 120,000 francs (£4,800), was made by the Department of Public Instruction to the school authorities in the large cities, and especially Rome, who provided a mid-day meal for their children.[[608]]
The first town in which the municipality undertook the provision of meals was San Remo, in 1896. This policy was inaugurated by the Socialist Council. It was temporarily abandoned in 1898, when a Conservative Council was appointed who preferred the subsidising of voluntary agencies to direct municipal action, but was re-introduced on the return of the Socialists to power some four years later.[[609]]
In Milan an agitation for the provision of meals was set on foot in the last decade of the nineteenth century. The municipal authority declined to undertake the work themselves, but advocated the formation of charitable committees to raise subscriptions for the purpose, offering to supplement these voluntary funds with a municipal subvention. This grant amounted in 1897 to about £400.[[610]] It was soon found that this system did not work satisfactorily, and the municipality was obliged, though somewhat reluctantly, to assume the responsibility.[[611]]
But it is in the small rural town of Vercelli that we find the most remarkable experiment.[[612]] Here for some years a charitable committee had been providing meals for children who lived too far from school to go home at mid-day, and the municipality had granted a small subsidy, but it was felt that this provision was entirely inadequate. In 1900 it was decided to provide a meal for all the children attending the elementary schools. The object was not the relief of distress but education in its fullest sense, as distinct from mere instruction. It was argued that the mid-day recess furnished an opportunity for moral education which could not be imparted in the class-room. The teachers would be brought into more intimate relation with the children, while the joining of richer and poorer alike in the common meal and in recreation afterwards would instil sentiments of brotherhood. The meal was to be free to all and attendance compulsory, for rich and poor were to be treated exactly alike. With the same object of preventing class distinctions, clothes were supplied for the poorer children, the municipality providing the material which was worked into garments by the sewing classes. The teachers were to have the same food, though they were allowed a double quantity, and were to eat it with the children. For this extra duty of supervising both the meals and recreation they only received an additional £2 a year. Since the moral rather than the physical welfare of the child was the primary consideration, too little attention was paid to the actual food that was given. The parents, it was argued, could in the great majority of cases amply feed their children at home, hence all that was needed was to supply sufficient food to compensate for the waste of energy during the two and a half hours of morning school. A cold meal of bread and sausage or cheese was given. This did not satisfy the more prosperous children, who would have preferred to pay for a hot meal, and some 10 per cent. of the children, chiefly the richer ones, obtained a medical certificate exempting them from attendance. Nor was the meal sufficient for the poorest children who were suffering from lack of food. To provide a really adequate meal free for all would have been too expensive an undertaking. Accordingly, after some six years, the general free provision was abandoned. Instead, hot soup was provided, which was given free to the poorest children, any others who wished being allowed to receive it on payment of 1·50 lire a month.[[613]]
The "School Restaurant" seems to have been established in Italy to a greater extent than in any other country. A very large proportion of the children attend, and a great number of these pay for the meals. In 1908-9 it was found that in forty-three cities the average attendance amounted to 37 per cent. of the total school population; while in several towns the attendance rose to over 70 per cent.[[614]]