The First Casa dei Bambini

About Maria Montessori

On 6 January 1907, in the poverty-stricken San Lorenzo district of Rome, Dr Maria Montessori opened the first Casa dei Bambini — Children’s House. What followed was a revelation that would change education forever and give birth to the global Montessori Method.

San Lorenzo, 1907

A District in the Shadows

At the turn of the twentieth century, Rome was a city in rapid development, gripped by a mania for building. Among the last plots to be filled was a tract bordered by ancient Roman walls on one side and a cemetery on the other — considered unlucky and long avoided. A building society eventually invested in the site, erecting five enormous tenement buildings. But the scheme was too vast, the society went bankrupt, and the buildings stood abandoned for years: roofless, without plumbing, open to the elements.

Over time, thousands of homeless people took shelter in these skeletal structures. Criminals, the destitute, and those hiding from authorities crowded into the ruins. The police avoided the area. No vendors would enter. The Quartiere di San Lorenzo became known across Italy as a place of shame — a district of crime, disease, and despair.

A new building society, seeing a business opportunity in the existing walls, invested in minimal renovations: whitewash, doors, windows, and basic plumbing. They selected the most settled residents — married couples — and began moving people in. Among the approximately 10,000 inhabitants, there were just fifty children.

“The Quartiere di San Lorenzo became known as the shame of Italy. People were too afraid to do anything about it; no one knew what happened within those dark walls.”

— Dr Maria Montessori

The Problem of the Children

Fifty Children, No School, No Teacher

While the building society had invested in housing, nobody had thought about the children. Left alone while their parents worked, the fifty children — aged two to six — roamed the tenement freely, causing damage and living in near-feral conditions. The director of the concern concluded that the only solution was to collect all the children in one room to keep them out of mischief.

One room was set aside. As Maria Montessori later recalled, it resembled in every way a children’s prison. There were no toys, no school, no teacher, and no resources of any kind. It was hoped that someone would be found with enough social courage to take on the challenge.

Maria, in her capacity as medical officer of hygiene, was approached. She agreed to take an interest — on the condition that basic standards of hygiene, food, and sanitation be provided. Society ladies were enlisted to raise funds. A woman of forty was found and put in charge. And so, on 6 January 1907 — the Feast of the Epiphany, the traditional day of celebration for children across Italy — the first Casa dei Bambini was inaugurated.

The Inauguration

6 January 1907 — Feast of the Epiphany

The first Casa dei Bambini (Children’s House) opens at 53 Via dei Marsi in the San Lorenzo district of Rome. Fifty children, aged two to six — dressed alike in stiff blue drill, frightened and crying — enter the room that will change the history of education.

The Discovery

Children Taught Themselves

Maria brought to the room some of the materials she had used in experimental psychology — what we know today as sensorial materials and exercises of practical life. Her intention was simply to observe the children’s reactions. She instructed the woman in charge not to interfere with the children in any way.

What she witnessed was profound. The children, placed in a clean environment with interesting occupations that nobody interfered with, began gradually to work with deep concentration. From timid, frightened, and wild, they became sociable and communicative. Their personalities grew. They showed extraordinary understanding, vivacity, and confidence. They were happy.

Their mothers noticed the transformation at home too. The children began pointing out a spot of dirt on a dress, tidying their rooms, asking their mothers to put flowers in the windows instead of hanging washing there. The children’s influence quietly transformed the lives of the families around them.

Six months after opening, the mothers came to Maria and asked — since she had already done so much for their children, and they themselves could not, being illiterate — would she teach the children to read and write? Maria was initially reluctant, convinced the children were too young. But she gave them the alphabet in a new way, analysing each sound and matching it to its symbol. What followed is now known as the explosion into writing — a spontaneous, joyful burst of literacy that astonished the world.

What Maria Observed

The Inauguration Speech

A Vision Declared

When called upon to make a speech at the inauguration, Maria had been reading the lesson for the Feast of the Epiphany in her mass book that morning. She read the passage aloud as an omen for the work to follow — a passage from Isaiah, ending with the words: “And the Gentiles shall walk in thy light, and kings in the brightness of thy rising.”

Inspired, she told those gathered that this work they were undertaking would prove to be very important, and that some day people would come from all parts of the world to see it. The press reported her speech politely — noting what an exaggeration it had been. History proved otherwise.

35 Years Later

Maria Montessori’s Anniversary Address, 6 January 1942

On the 35th anniversary of the opening of the first Casa dei Bambini, Maria Montessori spoke to her students, reflecting on what had happened in that room in San Lorenzo. The following are her words.

— Dr Maria Montessori, 6 January 1942

The Legacy of San Lorenzo

From One Room to 20,000 Schools Worldwide

The news of what was happening at San Lorenzo spread rapidly — first across Rome, then throughout Italy, then to the world. Journalists, ministers, educators, and eventually royalty came to observe. The children received them all with natural grace and poise that nobody had taught them. The Queen of Italy herself visited the quarter that had been considered “hell’s doors” to see the children with her own eyes.

Maria Montessori was then nearly forty years old. She had a flourishing medical career and a professorship at the University of Rome before her. She left both. She felt compelled to follow the children — and to find others who could follow them too.

The Cornerstone of the Montessori Method

“Through Dr Montessori’s observations and work with these children she discovered their astonishing, almost effortless ability to learn. Children taught themselves! This simple but profound truth formed the cornerstone of her life-long pursuit of educational reform.”

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