BAROLO, CARLO TANCREDI FALLETTI, marquis of. — Philanthropist and educationalist, born in Turin on 26 October 1782 and died there on 4 September 1838. At the age of twenty-two, as a page at the Napoleonic court, he met Giulia of the Colbert marquises, whom he married in 1807; after returning to Turin with her, he actively collaborated in the charitable foundations of the marchioness of Barolo (v.). Elected a municipal councillor of Turin and, in 1825, mayor, he carried out an extensive programme for the hygiene and embellishment of the city and for the education and well-being of the lower classes. All his numerous initiatives served a social and educational purpose, making him a precursor of the contemporary school. He conceived and founded the first infant school (1829) and should therefore Aporti (v.), who founded his schools of charity two years later and spread them throughout Italy, whereas B. confined his activity to Turin and conceived the infant school more as a social than an educational institution. B. also initiated technical schooling, later adopted in the state system, and teaching methods intended to implement vocational guidance. In 1832, in his capacity as secretary of the deputation of the General Council of Public Education, he had all primary schools 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 Balbo’s biography (1856). This contributed to obscuring the figure and work of B., especially in relation to the exceptional activity of his illustrious wife.