APPRENTICESHIP, CONTRACT OF. – The contract of apprenticeship (or *tirocinio*), for the most part, applies to manual and technical work, but it can also apply to clerical work, except where excluded by law or, with questionable legal justification, by collective agreements. Its object is the teaching of a trade to a young person (the apprentice) by a master craftsman or employer (who should therefore be remunerated rather than paying).
Today, however, the apprentice is commonly regarded as a subordinate worker, albeit in a special position. In reality, the primary purpose of the contract remains the learning of the trade (unlike the *garzonato* arrangement, in which a worker is assigned to the most menial tasks without any intention of further qualification), but the apprentice is integrated into the organizational structure of the firm, subject to its discipline, and usually receives—albeit modest—remuneration (unlike, typically, voluntary interns in professional offices), on the assumption that the work performed is of some utility to the firm. The civil code itself classifies apprenticeship as a species of the genus “subordinate employment” and imposes certain obligations: a) that the apprenticeship period may not exceed the limits established by collective agreements and custom; b) that the remuneration may not be piecework wages, which presuppose a skill the apprentice has not yet acquired but is meant to acquire through training; c) that the employer must allow the apprentice to attend courses for professional training (the so-called “pre-apprenticeship”); d) that upon termination of the relationship, the apprentice must be given a certificate attesting to the completed apprenticeship. Special legislation and collective agreements should better adapt apprenticeship to the varied needs of different industries, locations, and times, in accordance with current demands, and ensure that artisan workshops, as they have been since the medieval guilds, serve as schools for skilled workers. In recent times, courses have also been established for the qualification, improvement, and retraining of unemployed workers, with the aim of rapidly altering and expanding their technical skills to meet the needs of production, the domestic labor market, and emigration possibilities, thereby increasing the potential for the most productive and beneficial employment of labor.
By general principle, instructors and those who teach a trade or craft are liable for damage caused by the illicit act of their pupil or apprentice while under their supervision, unless they can prove that they were unable to prevent the act.