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Benedetto Filippo d'Este

1736–1751

Born
30 Sep 1736, Modena
Country of birth
Duchy of Modena and Reggio, today Italy
Died
1751, Modena
facts
9
sources
1
images and files
0

Facts and their sources

Tap a fact to see where it comes from.

A life in time

  1. Born · Modena

    Birth, Modena

  2. Died · Modena

    Death, Modena

What was it like?

The world around Modena, 1736: who ruled, who else was alive, how people lived. This is general history, not a record about the family, and every item shows where it comes from.

Benedetto was born the same year as Joseph-Louis Lagrange, Domenico Cotugno, and James Watt.

Born the same year

  • Joseph-Louis Lagrange

    Mathematician and astronomer (1736–1813)

  • Domenico Cotugno

    professor of anatomy, University of Naples

  • James Watt

    British engineer (1736–1819)

  • Charles-Augustin de Coulomb

    French physicist (1736-1806)

  • Patrick Henry

    American Founding Father, orator and politician (1736 – 1799)

  • James Macpherson

    British writer, poet, translator and politician (1736-1796)

Fashion

Poor citizens wore cheap cloth slippers

In 18th-century Modena, the poor frequently wore cloth slippers, which were extremely cheap and easily made from scrap materials.

Soldiers' neckcloths indicated their rank

In the Duchy of Modena, soldiers' neckcloths served as rank identifiers, with ordinary soldiers tying them at the back and corporals wearing them with the ends hanging down at the front.

Music

Lenten oratorio performances at San Carlo

During Lent, ordinary people and nobles attended oratorio performances at the San Carlo Rotondo, a central venue for religious music in Modena. These performances were often supported by the Ducal Chapel to strengthen religious and political ties.

Music in streets and squares

Outdoor public events featured brass and percussion musicians who accompanied processions and rituals in streets and squares. These performances blended with the sounds of the crowd, creating a conversational atmosphere shared across different social groups.

Getting around
Around 1741–1741

Carriages amazed local mountain communities

When the first carriage traveled the Apennine route, locals were so amazed they called it a machine or contraption, with some betting it would never succeed. The count inspecting the road even had to occasionally disembark from his carriage for safety on the steepest mountain sections.

Around 1739–1749

Travel by foot, mule, or carriage

For most people, travel between towns along the mountainous Via Vandelli was done on foot, horseback, or by mule, while only the flatter Emilian stretch could accommodate carriages. A full journey between Modena and Massa took about one week, even with postal service arrangements.

Daily life

Education and work for poor children

Religious institutions, such as the local poorhouse, provided basic education for children, which included lessons in reading and writing alongside rigorous work schedules and religious observance. Many children also learned trades by working in city workshops or spinning mills under the guidance of older laborers.

Rural home layout and food storage

Rural homes featured a spacious kitchen that served as the heart of daily life, where families prepared bread, processed pork, and performed household chores. The kitchen was typically south-facing to catch the sun, while cellars were positioned on the north side to keep food cool.

Food

Bread as the common staple food

While nobles enjoyed refined breads, the main daily food for common people was bread made from grain, often in the form of simple, rustic focaccias.

Summer refreshments called latati

During hot summer months, people refreshed themselves with drinks called latati, which were milk-like beverages made from ingredients like lemons, citrons, and almonds.

Prices and wages

Generous daily wine rations

Workers in northern Italy often received significant daily wine rations, sometimes ranging from 1 to over 5 liters, as part of their in-kind compensation.

Work

Common jobs in Modena

In the mid-eighteenth century, a large portion of the workforce was employed in the textile and clothing sectors, which accounted for approximately 40% of occupations. Other common roles included food production, metalwork, and leather processing.

Memorable facts of working life

Workers in charitable hospices had to wear a visible license badge and were forbidden from selling their work tools, while city sewer cleaning was specifically performed on rest days when other work was suspended. Artisans serving the court, such as painters and gilders, were frequently observed suffering from occupational health issues caused by materials like mercury.

News and letters

Massive personal letter archive in Modena

The scholar Lodovico Antonio Muratori maintained an extensive archive in Modena containing over 20,000 incoming letters from correspondents across Italy and Europe. These personal exchanges were essential for maintaining his vital cultural and political network during the first half of the 1700s.

Weekly news delivered by postal couriers

News of events in distant cities arrived in Modena weekly via postal couriers, who carried letters and reports that were often printed as newsletters. These documents were meticulously dated and labeled with their city of origin to organize the information.

Family

Parents

Ancestors and children

Open the full tree

Four generations back to the right, the children to the left. The number beside a child counts the generations of descendants known after them.