Charity and Power in Early Modern Italy
Benefactors and their Motives in Turin, 1541–1789

"This detailed study is a solid contribution to the study of both carità and the history of hospitals. It is a welcome addition to the Wellcome Trust's support for scholarship in the history of medicine....learned and meticulous..." Bibliotheque D'Humanisme

"A pioneering contribution to current discussions of material aspects of charity." Choice

this book demands close reading, both for the tightness of its arguments and for the importance of what it has to say....Her arguments command serious attention, for they are solidly grounded in archival documentation, especially Turin's rich fund of notarial deeds and wills....Dr. Cavallo's book is crammed with novel, challenging arguments....Her book leaves few orthodoxies unscathed, and will form the point of departure for reinvigorated debate on these issues." Geoffrey Symcox, Journal of Modern Italian Studies

"...elegant and cautiously argued volume...What emerges is not merely a well-researched book, but a meticulously crafted conceptual framework. Cavallo takes no current orthodoxy for granted and therefore each observation is fresh, perceptive, and authoritative...These findings...have important implications for the history of women in institutions...this book is a significant achievement, intellectually challenging, historiographically conscious, methodologically sound, and a major contribution to our knowledge of the early modern city and its elites." The Sixteenth Century Journal

"This book deserves wide readership.... Cavallo's contributions are many, and she points the way for future research. She creatively relates adjusted patterns of charity and the promotion by charitable organizations..." William V. Hudon, American Historical Review