Umberto I of Italy

Umberto I was King of Italy from 9 January 1878 until his assassination in 1900. His reign saw the creation of the Italian colonial empire and the formation of the Triple Alliance among Italy, Germany, and Austria-Hungary.

Calabrian men's festival clothing

During festivals in Calabria, men commonly wore black velvet jackets and breeches, paired with long white cotton caps that hung over their shoulders.

Cleanliness of Sorrento peasant women

Sorrento peasant women were noted for their cleanliness, never being seen in public without being combed and wearing footwear, even on regular work days.

Essential instruments for daily life

Castanets and tambourines were essential instruments for dancers, frequently accompanied by violins and guitars. Guitars were especially favored for nocturnal serenades, open-air concerts, and romantic declarations.

Music in religious festivals

Religious processions and festivals were vibrant musical events where people sang devotional songs and participated in popular theatre performances. These celebrations often merged music, dance, and collective banqueting to strengthen community bonds.

Climbing Mount Etna by horse and carriage

To climb Mount Etna, travelers would depart Catania by carriage for Nicolosi, then ride horses to the Casa degli inglesi, arriving at midnight. From there, they trekked 1.5 hours before dawn to reach the summit to witness the sunrise.

Travel by mule and lettiga in Sicily

In Sicily, travel was often done by mule or in a lettiga, a carriage-like box without wheels carried by two mules that moved at about three miles per hour. This unconventional vehicle was notoriously noisy due to bells and prone to swaying on uneven ground.

Daily routine in boarding schools

In private boarding schools run by Pious Schools in the 1840s, students typically followed a strict routine that included eight to nine hours of sleep, five hours of lessons, and two hours of spiritual exercises daily.

Limited access to education

The kingdom had no compulsory school attendance, and education was largely controlled by the Church, with literacy rates remaining extremely low, at approximately 14.4 percent by 1861.

Chestnuts as a main dish

Poor Neapolitans purchased nine boiled chestnuts for one soldo and used the reddish cooking juice to soak their bread as a main meal.

Scrap fish for a soldo

For one soldo, a poor resident could buy a small paper cone of fried fish known as fragaglia, which were the scraps from the bottom of fishmongers' baskets.

Coffee and diet of the poor

In the mid-19th century, luxury items like a cup of coffee cost 2 grana, a price that laborers often paid daily as a digestive despite their poverty. At the same time, many workers lived as mangiafoglie, eating pasta only occasionally because it was expensive relative to their daily wages.

Coffee and social status symbols

A cup of coffee, which cost 2 grana, transitioned from a natural pleasure to an increasingly indispensable luxury for ordinary people like shoemakers. Eating white bread was a significant social marker, as some laborers could only afford the common "mangiafoglie" diet of vegetables.