thumb|upright|Spazzacamino (singular), end of the 19th century, Museo Sonogno thumb|upright|Spazzacamini (plural) in Milano, end of the 19th century, Museo Sonogno Spazzacamini (Italian for chimney sweep) was the term for child laborers in 19th- and early 20th-century Italy and Switzerland, where they were also known as Kaminfegerkinder in German-speaking areas.
thumb|upright|Spazzacamino (singular), end of the 19th century, Museo Sonogno thumb|upright|Spazzacamini (plural) in Milano, end of the 19th century, Museo Sonogno Spazzacamini (Italian for chimney sweep) was the term for child laborers in 19th- and early 20th-century Italy and Switzerland, where they were also known as Kaminfegerkinder in German-speaking areas.
== History and origin == Most of the boys, usually 8 to 12 years old, were from the canton of Ticino, coveted by their padroni chimney sweepers because they were small and slim and therefore able to climb the narrow chimneys and to clean them. When the boys had reached the top of the chimneys, they had to shout "Spazzacamini!" to prove that they actually had climbed up the dark, stuffy fireplaces. The working conditions were catastrophic. For lunch, the children often had nothing to eat and had to go begging for bread, and they had often to sleep in stables. The boys were hired in the winter, so at the family tables in the badly developed valleys of Ticino one mouth less had to be fed. At that time, bitter poverty and hunger was widely spread in Ticino during the winter months. Many children came from the Valle Verzasca, the Cento Valli and also from the Italian Val Vigezzo valleys, and frequently worked in northern Italy.
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