The contribution aims to discuss the diverse educational models for childhood which led to the development of citizenship and inclusion rights within the turbulent social context of 20^thcentury Italy.

 Much research has hitherto focused on the historical aspects of educational institutions for early childhood in the first and second halves of the 20^thcentury, but little has been written about the origins of forward-looking  educational models aiming at the children’s future participation in democratic life and at the development of citizenship and inclusion rights. 

First, the hermeneutic approach employed to analyse the historical texts will be clarified. Diverse educational models for children will be taken into account according to the relevant interpretation. A pedagogical tradition shedding light into early childhood education is thus going to emerge. This tradition has been object of recent studies and will be integrated by new, valuable insights.

The study will assess educational models employed by preschools particularly during the second half of the 20^thcentury, thus showing how the theories provided by the examined authors have been put into practice. A common thread will explore the work of various theorists, from Froebel to the more children-oriented approaches of Rosseau, from Pestalozzi to Owen, from Aporti’s intellectual approach to Pasquali-Agazzi and Montessori. The innovative experimentations on preschool institutions of Ciari and Malaguzzi will also be analysed. They highly contributed to the democratic and social development of schools and stressed their importance for society.

The study will be divided into three parts. The first part is analytical and discusses the relation between nature and nurture in early childhood by assessing the most relevant educational model developed in the 19^thand 20^thcenturies. The second part discusses how these theories have been consequently put into practice in Italy. The third part achieves a synthesis among the different theories and sheds light into the possible development of new educational methods focusing on the development of children in an inclusive and democratic way. 

The first methodologic challenge was choosing the most appropriate hermeneutic approach to deal with the historical/pedagogical data in order to properly contextualize the texts within their historical context and to better understand the open issues of our times. To this end, the historical-critical approach allows us to interpret the chosen texts in their historical context and provides food for thought for future perspectives. The historical data and the social context of pedagogical experiences are therefore analysed together so as to derive innovative educational models oriented to inclusion and democratization.

Over the 20th century pedagogists contributed to bringing the specificity of early childhood to the fore and led to a greater awareness of the need of educational institutions for early childhood. This achievement will be matched with the progress made in childhood studies by the aforementioned authors in 20th century Italy, who abandoned the old paradigm of temporary custodial facilities and theorised innovative and emancipating educational models based on the ideal of democratization. This led to the development of new educational experiments and experiences actively involving parents and the social fabric, which promoted a common awareness of the importance of childhood education. Parents and teachers cooperated in tackling managerial problems thereby increasing the quality of Italian educational institutions and paving the way for emancipating educational models aiming at the fulfilment of children in a democratic and inclusive context.

Agazzi A., Macchietti S. (1991), L’educazione dell’infanzia nella scuola materna e il metodo Agazzi, la Scuola, Brescia. Agazzi R., (1898), Ordinamento pedagogico dei giardini d’infanzia secondo il metodo Froebel, Paravia, Torino. Ariès P., (1990), Storia della mentalità, in J. Le Goff (a cura di), La nuova storia, Mondadori, Milano. Baldacci M., (2015), Prospettive per la scuola d’infanzia, Carocci, Roma. Bertin G.M. (1975), Il fanciullo montessoriano e l’educazione infantile, Armando, Roma. Catarsi E., Genovesi G. (1985), L’infanzia a scuola. L’educazione infantile in Italia dalle sale di custodia alla materna statale, Juvenilia, Bergamo. Ciari B. (1975), Le nuove tecniche didattiche, Editori Riuniti, Roma. D’Ascenzo M. (2018), Per una storia delle scuole all’aperto in Italia, Edizioni ETS, Pisa. Frabboni F. (1974), La scuola dell’infanzia. Una nuova frontiera dell’educazione, La Nuova Italia, Firenze. Froebel F. (1826), L’educazione dell’uomo e altri scritti, La Nuova Italia, Firenze. Gecchele M., Polenghi S., Dal Toso P., (a cura di.) (2017), Il Novecento: il secolo del bambino?, edizioni Junior, Parma. Gecchele M. (2014), Momenti di storia dell’istruzione in Italia, Pensa Multimedia, Brescia. Montessori M. (1907), Il Metodo della Pedagogia Scientifica applicato all’educazione infantile nelle Case dei Bambini, Opera nazionale Montessori, Roma 2000. Montessori M. (1936), Il segreto dell’infanzia, Garzanti, Milano 2000. Montessori M. (1948), La scoperta del bambino, Garzanti, Milano 2000. Montessori M. (1949). La mente del bambino, Garzanti, Milano 1999. Owen R. (1994), L’armonia sociale. Saggi sull’educazione, La Nuova Italia, Firenze. Pontecorvo C. (a cura di.) (1990), Una scuola per i bambini, La Nuova Italia, Firenze.