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Abstract: This essay examines the strong relationship that tied the poet Giuseppe Gioacchino Belli to his son Ciro and especially the care with which he followed him during the nine years (1832-1841) Ciro spent as a border at the Collegio Pio in Perugia, Umbria. An analysis of the many letters exchanged between father and son as well as the poet's correspondence with several members of Perugia's upper-class throws a new light on the previously known role of Belli as an educator. What becomes even clearer is the determination with which he planned and pursued the formation of his only son during these years, directing him toward an intellectual and legal career. There were homever contradictions in his feelings and behavior which were in some way a reflection of both objective difficulties and the ultra-conservatism pervasive in Rome during that made a definitive social affirmation extremely difficult for the middle-class.