Abstract

In the medieval mentality, the notion of old age varied according to socio-economic environments and circumstances. If medical attention is directed above all towards kings and the wealthier classes, and if life in a monastery seems to ensure longevity, outside courts and monasteries the care of the elderly, often under the banner of the poverty-ageing binomial, is the concern of individuals, confraternities, and administrations. In a framework of often-fragmentary sources, this report proposes to dig into published and unpublished documentation, to verify devotional and welfare forms and practices aimed at caring for, and protecting the health of, the elderly in medieval Palermo.