The main purpose of the study was to investigate the nature of poverty and its demographic dimensions in Florence, Turin and Rome about the year 1810. The data were collected from petitions made by households seeking poor relief from the respective urban authorities. Variables 1. Economic For individuals within the household, there is information on occupation, work status, salary and condition of work. 2. Demographic For individuals, information on age, sex and marital status, relationship to head of household. For households, information on size of houshold and domicility. 3. Institutional For housholds, information on the form of charity requested and granted. The most complete information on all variables is for Florence: less complete data are from Rome, the Jewish Ghetto of Rome and Turin. Please note: this study does not include information on named individuals and would therefore not be useful for personal family history research.