Adoption Record Garofano

[nkokolis]

My great grandmother (Giovanna Garofano) was abandoned at birth and adopted by Nicola Schiavone and Carmenella Minetti. I am unable to translate the attached record, but is this an adoption notice? Does it provide any information about her birth location, the foundling that took her in, or the actual date of her birth (12 Sep 1893)? Any information would be very helpful. Thank you.

[PippoM]

This is not an adoption notice, but the original birth record of Giovanna. Nicola Schiavone presented the baby to the Registrar, saying he had found her in front of the door of his home. He requested to be entrusted the baby, promising to raise her.
If you are sure Nicola and his wife actually raised her, you'd check if Carminella had had (and even lost) a baby just around that time. If she hadn't, it's possible that Giovanna was their own daughter. In fact, at that time, she could not grow a baby if she didn't have milk. Besides, it happened that poor people declared some of their children as a foundlings, and then raised them to get help from the Municipality.

[nkokolis]

Very interesting! Thank you for your help and recommendation. I went through all the birth records and did not find Carminella losing a child at the same time. Nor did I find any child that was born to unknown parent(s). Carminella did give birth to children in 1889 and 1895. So there is a gap of having children that fits nicely with Giovanna being born in 1893. It does seem strange that the child was randomly left in front of Nicola's door. Did the Registrar name the child?

[PippoM]

The record says "alla quale HA imposto il nome", so it would seem that it was Nicola who gave her the name, though it usually was the Registrar who did it.