Victor Emmanuel III of Italy

Victor Emmanuel III was King of Italy from 29 July 1900 until his abdication on 9 May 1946. A member of the House of Savoy, he also reigned as Emperor of Ethiopia from 1936 to 1941 and King of the Albanians from 1939 to 1943, following the Italian invasions of Ethiopia and Albania.

Folk costumes signaled social status

Folk costumes in rural Italy served as detailed social markers, where the quality of dye, the number of buttons, or even the type of metal in a finger ring signaled a wearer's wealth and marital status. These traditional outfits, often featuring unique local embroidery and lace, were brought out specifically for harvest festivals and religious processions.

Respectful dress for feast days

For working families, a clean white shirt or a well-preserved jacket kept by attentive wives was considered essential for church or feast days to show respect to God and demonstrate civility. Ordinary laborers often spent their weekdays in worn clothing, but would carefully maintain these finer garments specifically for such holy occasions.

Dance music moves from nobility to farmers

In the mid-19th century, professional musical groups like the Concerto Cantoni began performing dance music such as the waltz, polka, and mazurka for farmers, whereas this music had previously been restricted to the homes of the nobility.

Noisy serenades for newlyweds in Rome

In Rome, people performed a boisterous late-night custom called a scampanacciata outside the windows of newlyweds, using tin buckets, pans, iron plates, and bells to create as much noise as possible.

Travel by foot and mule

In many mountainous and southern areas, people could only reach towns on foot or by mule along uncomfortable mountain paths until roads were improved.

Railway challenges and social class differences

Train schedules were unreliable and inconsistent between cities, sometimes varying by over 10 minutes due to different local time standards. Trains also had distinct social classes, with third-class passengers often enduring crowded, basic, and sometimes unroofed carriages.

Cost of meals and daily dreams

In some areas, public soup kitchens served meals for a modest fee of 11 centesimi per portion. Meanwhile, the urban poor in cities like Naples sometimes dreamed of basic comforts they lacked, such as a clean house with fresh air, white bedsheets, and regular meals of meat and pasta.

Poor housing and shared living spaces

In many rural areas, peasant families lived in small, damp, two-story houses with dirt floors, often sharing space and warmth with their livestock during the winter. Urban poor households frequently lacked windows, relied on smoke-filled kitchens, and suffered from a lack of sanitation, such as sewers or waste collection.

Polenta as a daily staple

By around 1870, peasant families in the Veneto region relied so heavily on cornmeal that they ate two to three kilograms of polenta daily, spending up to 60% of their income on it.

Frugal flavor for polenta

For peasant families, one salted herring was considered sufficient to flavor a large serving of polenta for at least three people.

Worker purchasing power in post-unification Italy

Between 1862 and 1878, a worker in the construction sector could purchase approximately 2.9 baskets of essential food items per day with their salary. In the Mezzogiorno region, where prices were lower, this purchasing power increased to 3.2 baskets.

Domestic servant wages in Naples

In Naples, a domestic servant could earn as little as 8 lire per month, while a housemaid might earn 30 lire.