Information on a possible orphange

[JRosano2012]

I have going through some of my grandmothers things that the family has saved. I came across some letters that were written to but we are not sure who they are from. On one of the envelopes it says:

Istituto Filomena
Lecce

I have tried to look this up online but cant seem to find much on it. I was hoping to find somebody that might know more about this place. Its hard to read the letters but it looks like it might be from 1951. Any information would be great or even if somebody could point me in the right direction of who to talk to.

[Tessa78]

Have you considered posting an image of the letter/s here on the translation forum?
Maybe it will help with the mystery...

T.

[JRosano2012]

Hi T.

How do I post the image?

Johnny

[Tessa78]

We have had success with iumagesharing sites such as www.postimage.org

Upload your image (be sure to check "family safe"
then cut and paste the "thumbnails for forum1" here ... or in the translation/language forum for a translation

T.

[JRosano2012]

Hi T.,

Here is the envelope that came with the letter:



Here is page 1 of the letter:



Here is page 2 of the letter:



And here is the last page of the letter:

[Italysearcher]

http://siba2.unile.it/sedi/Semeraro.htm
Unfortunately is written in Italian. It is an orphanage/school set up by the nuns for children between 6-12 years of age. They could stay until 18 if accepted when they were placed in domestic service. It was called Santa Filomena but then the name changed.
In the letter it sounds like a sister who is askeing for money and sweaters and socks. Remember this was afer WW2 and Italy was in a bad state.

[JRosano2012]

Hi Ann,

Thank you so much for the response! I am curious, why would someone send their child there? I think the girl in the letter was my GM's sister. It seems like she was the only one to go there.

If I were to give you my email address, would you mind translating the letter for me?

Johnny

[Italysearcher]

If a family was very poor and could not feed their children they often sent them to this sort of place. It was a boarding school for those who could afford to pay, and those who couldn't were sometimes funded by the town as a form of welfare. And then there were those whose mother died and the father went of America and put them in the 'school' promising to come back or send for them.
There really isn't much more in the letter. A lot of writing but not really saying anything. Please send me 2 sweaters and some socks and money to pay for a mass for her dead mother.

[JRosano2012]

Ahhh, I see. So it would have been possible to send one child and not the other? I am sorry for all the questions, it is just that we are now just learning about this sister. We did not know she existed.

Is there a way I could find out if this place still exists or if they kept any records?

[Italysearcher]

Much easier to request (or search the microfilms if available) for a birth record for Maria Antonietta fromt he town giving a range of years.

[JRosano2012]

How do I go about doing that? And was that her middle name, Antonietta?