Воспитательные модели сицилийских дворян в XVIII-XIX вв.: Колледжио Кутелли

Among the several institutions charged with educating Sicilian noblemen between XVIIIth and XIXth century, one of the most prominent is Collegio Cutelli. Founded in Catania by count Mario Cutelli in 1654, the Collegio stood as a benchmark for that part of the élite of the island that realized the advantages that a good education brings to affairs and, most of all, to the preservation of the status quo. Focusing on the analysis of unpublished material, the present work aims at defining the variegated educational methods through which the eastern Sicilian ruling class was trained, in a period ranging from the opening ceremony of Collegio Cutelli (1779) to the fall of the Borbonic Kingdom (1860). Furthermore, the analysis of data concerning various aspects of Sicilian education (such as the provenance of the students, the subjects, the educational activities, the teaching material and the composition of the teaching body) will be useful in identifying the changes undergone in that period. These changes concern not only the internal relationships between the members of Sicilian élite, but also the relationship between the élite and the government, both central and local.