CARLO TANCREDI FALLETTI, Marchese di BAROLO. - Philanthropist and educator, born in Turin on 26 Oct. 1782, died there on 4 Sept. 1838. At the age of 22, he was a page at the Napoleonic court, where he met Giulia dei Marchesi Colbert, whom he married in 1807. Returning with her to Turin, he actively collaborated in the charitable foundations of the Marchioness (v. BAROLO).
Elected a member of the Turin municipal council and in 1825 mayor, he carried out an extensive program for the hygiene and beautification of the city, as well as for the education and welfare of the lower classes. His numerous initiatives all responded to a social and pedagogical intent, making him a precursor of contemporary schooling. He conceived and founded the first infant school (1829) and is thus Aporti (v.), who two years later established his charity schools and spread them throughout Italy, while in 1811 Barolo had already begun his work in Turin and conceived the infant school more as a social institution than a scholastic one. Barolo also initiated technical schooling, later adopted into the state system, and teaching methods aimed at professional orientation. In 1832, in his capacity as secretary of the Deputazione del Consiglio generale della pubblica istruzione, he arranged for all primary schools to be entrusted to the Brothers of the Christian Schools.
He also promoted the study of geography through illustrative readings, with the book Cenni diretti alla gioventù intorno a fatti storici, monumenti notevoli e particolarità naturali del Piemonte ecc. (Turin 1838). This volume is anonymous, as is the pamphlet Sull'educazione della prima infanzia della classe indigente (ibid. 1832), which was erroneously attributed to Cesare Balbo by Ercole Ricotti in his biography of Balbo (1856). This contributed to overshadowing Barolo’s figure and work, especially in relation to the exceptional activity of his distinguished wife.