Keywords

• In the eighteenth century
• Archbishop Salvatore Ventimiglia founded a guest-house in Catania to shelter local beggars &ndash
• the disabled and the elderly in particular. The project aimed at dealing with the poverty spreading throughout the island
• a result of both demographic increase and everlasting famine. The foundation was initially created to be a typical Ancien Régime hospice providing food and accommodation as well as relief and spiritual aid (confession and religious comfort). During the following century
• the guest-house was to become an integral part of the territory: firstly
• it ensured public safety and reduced wandering
• secondly
• it helped enhance the circulation of money
• supplying credit to the local elite