The "Wheel" of Foundlings of the Duomo di San Giovanni Battista in Vietri sul Mare, Italy

When most people visit the 10th Century Duomo di San Giovanni Battista in Vietri sul Mare, they come during the day (all the better to see the stunning blue, green, and yellow majolica tiled dome) and enter by the main entrance into the chapel.  But, a hundred years ago, a small number of parishioners might come under darkness of night, bypass that main entrance and search out a small staircase to the right of the church.  Their goal?  A small rotating door nestled at waist height in the covered stairway.  This inconspicuous window (now sealed) was a foundling wheel, a reminder of a time when unwed or impoverished mothers had few options for their newborns. 

 

The idea of the foundling wheel or “baby hatch” seems to have originated in Italy in Medieval Times following a decree by Pope Innocent III and allowed mothers to anonymously drop their child off, thereby escaping social reprisals.  Mothers would place their child in the rotating cylinder, turn the cylinder so the baby would be inside the building, and then ring a bell to catch the attention of the orphanage workers. 

 

Hundreds of mothers chose to abandon their babies, often only a few days old, to the care of orphanages. These charitable organizations would raise the child to age of maturity, at which time the orphans were expected to make their way in the world.  But what surname do you give a child with no known family?  In the Italian region prior to 1871, the orphanages dubbed the children “Esposito,” which is now the one of the most common surnames in Italy and even more prevalent in the Naples area.  Tradition holds that the name for orphanages, called Ospizio degli esposti (hospice of the exposed), and the orphans themselves comes from the ancient Greco-Roman practice of exposure, where unwanted infants would be left outside to be, hopefully, saved either by the gods or by a passerby.  In more recent history, Mothers could use the Ruota deli espositi (wheel of the exposed) rather than a random roadway or hillside. 

 

The current use of a baby hatch still exists here and there in countries throughout Europe, Asia, and South Africa.  In the US, all 50 states have enacted “safe-haven laws,” where children less than 72 hours old, can be legally and anonymously given up for adoption at places such as hospitals, police stations, or fire stations.

GPS coordinates:  

40°40’13.9”N 14°43’42.1”E