esposto

Esposto means exposed, and as a noun, mostly in the plural esposti, it meant children declared to be of unknown parents or not acknowledged by them, who were taken into public care. The more common word is trovatello. The act may say genitori ignoti, parents unknown.

The surname Esposito, common in the south, comes from the same Latin word and was given to abandoned children; Degli Esposti is a related form. Not every Esposito descends from a foundling, but the act of a child named esposto is the place to start.