A case-study: gyms and gymnastics teachers in Apulia and Basilicata (1861-1893)

In this paper the author analyses the historical documentation stored at the Central Archive of the State in Rome. The goal is to reconstruct the role that political and social educational agents had, both at national and local level, in conditioning the teaching of gymnastics in schools, along with the socio-economical status of gymnastics teachers and the conditions of gyms and playfields. The focus is on the regions of Apulia and Basilicata, in southern Italy, and on a time period between the unification of Italy (1861) and the approval of new programs for physical education in 1893.