Scholastic Instruction:

s regards schooling (Galante Maria Giuseppe 1781), scholastic instruction was done in monasteries for the benefit of the state. Monks that did not teach had to pay 10% of their income to the state. Similarly, nuns that did not teach had to pay a portion of their income to the state, but only 5%. From this additional fund – as well as from other ecclesiastical revenues – the teachers were paid. Scholastic instruction consisted of history relative to Morrone and the province. Sending your child to a school was no different than condemning him or her to a form of torture.

Hospitals:

The hospitals were considered the sewers of the nation and they dishonored and degraded the human race. The doctors that could not succeed in identifying and curing the pains of man cured all his sicknesses in the hospital.

 Hospital of Morrone:

Galante describes it as so: the Nunziata of Morrone does not have on file a record of its foundation; it has an annual revenue of 1,200 ducato. Monsignor Trìa spoke of the hospital while on his pastoral visit of November 30th, 1734. The hospital is at the Porta di Sant’Angelo (actually in Morrone there is a road called Via Ospedale) and it is situated in two rooms of a house, one above the other. It is lacking many medical supplies. At that time there was an 80-year old obstetrician called Giovanna del Pinto. Additionally, at the time of Monsignor Trìa’s visit, only the poor and the pilgrims used the hospital. There were two surgeons, Domenico Marchitto and Giovanni Fasano. In fact, the nearest hospital is in Larino. Morrone has a functioning general hospital that serves also Ripabottoni.

 Cemeteries:

Common burial

The Roadways:

The first roadway built in Molise was the Consolare Sannitica with Regio Decreto 22/07/1778. To design the new road the authorities traced countless times the antique paths so as to not deprive some communities of the right of passage they enjoyed. The Consolare Sannitica passes through Campobasso and Termoli and is 90 miles long.

Grain:

The toad. The toad was cancer-like and to eliminate it farmers used water with lime while sowing. The wheat, called also maize or Indian grain, is collected in September and is dried in the sun. It is estimated that around 4 tomolo (2 quintals) are needed per person.

Indian Millet:

Used to make brooms

Empirical Medicine:

Liquorice. Its roots were chopped, boiled and pressed so that the thick black syrup could be extracted and condensed. From the syrup tablets were made. The syrup was also used to dye clothing, color beer or used in medicine as an expectorant.

Decime:

The church demanded decime, not only on the harvest but also on wine, sheep, kid and illegal businesses. Traditionally, only farmers payed decime. In the mountainous areas (Morrone) the decime were payed in August and September after the wheat harvest. In effect, this custom still lingers and is now carried out in the paying of the terraggio, a concession due to the landowner.
Translator’s note : (in Ancient Roman time a decima was 1/10 of one’s annual agricultural output. 1/10 of one’s production was owed to the church or other municipal authorities. The tradition of the decima dates back to an antique Jewish legislation that required 1/10 of everyone’s harvest to be given, on order of divine commandment, to the Levites.)

Universities (Associations):

Associations, or Università as they were called in the communities of Southern Italy from 1200 to 1800), were part of a social net. Chapels, congregations, agricultural entities, hospitals and old age homes were all parts of a welfare-like system. The Regia Camera was the Supreme Court and to it the task of reviewing public accounts was given. Weights, were the taxes, the fiscal contributions were divided into “ordinary” and “extraordinary”. L’udienza (the hearing) was the tribunal that governed the province. Molise until around 1800 depended on the tribunal of Lucera, which was the capital of Foggia. Ferdinando the IV of Borbone, son of Carlo III, was made king of the Kingdom of Naples in 1759.

Eufiteusi:

the type of rent that one receives after having owned a specific plot of land in excess of 20 years.

Baiulo:

a local judge of royal nomination.

 Difesa: 

lands that were given to civic use that were not subjected to any servitude. In Morrone the difesa was Collepizzuto, “a Dfenz”.