Lazzaroni

Webster's Dictionary

(n. pl.) The homeless idlers of Naples who live by chance work or begging; - so called from the Hospital of St. Lazarus, which serves as their refuge.

The Nuttall Encyclopedia

An indolent class of waifs under a chief who used to lounge about Naples, and proved formidable in periods of revolution; they subsisted partly by service as messengers, porters, &c., and partly as beggars.