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Prince Emanuele Filiberto, 2nd Duke of Aosta

1869–1931

Born
13 Jan 1869, Genoa
Country of birth
Kingdom of Italy, today Italy
Died
4 Jul 1931, Turin
facts
7
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 · Genoa

    Birth, Genoa

  2. Child born: Prince Amedeo, 3rd Duke of Aosta

    Birth, Turin

  3. Child born: Prince Aimone, 4th Duke of Aosta

    Birth, Turin

  4. Died · Turin

    Death, Turin

What was it like?

The world around Genoa, 1869: 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.

When Prince was born in 1869, Genoa belonged to the Kingdom of Italy, ruled by Victor Emmanuel II of Italy.

Who ruled

  • Victor Emmanuel II of Italy

    Monarch of Italy, 1861–1878 · Kingdom of Italy

  • Otto I the Great

    Monarch of Italy, 951 · Kingdom of Italy

Born around the same time

  • Maria Montessori

    1870 · Italian physician and educator (1870-1952)

  • Ada Negri

    1870 · Italian poet, writer, and teacher (1870–1945)

  • Marie Dressler

    1868 · Canadian-American actress (1868-1934)

  • Franz Lehár

    1870 · Komárom-born Austrian music composer (1870–1948)

  • George Arliss

    1868 · English actor, author, playwright and filmmaker (1868–1946)

  • Pompeu Fabra

    1868 · Catalan linguist (1868–1948)

Fashion

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.

Music

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.

Around 1871–1874

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.

Getting around

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.

Around 1875–1899

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.

Daily life

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.

Food
Around 1870–1880

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.

Prices and wages

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.

Around 1878–1884

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.

Work
Around 1860–1868

Women's Straw Braiding Wages

Women in Tuscany who braided straw for hats earned four or five sous per day for their meticulous, labor-intensive work.

Around 1876–1876

Job Market in Sicilian Squares

Day laborers in Sicily often gathered in public squares before dawn, hoping to be hired for the day, but they could go 100 to 120 days a year without work.

During their lifetime

  1. 1888

    First National Healthcare Law Enacted

    Following a cholera pandemic that killed approximately 50,000 people, the government enacted Italy's first national healthcare law in 1888.

  2. 1888

    Introduction of Emigration Regulations

    The 1888 Emigration Act established the first formal regulations for citizens leaving the country as transatlantic emigration climbed to nearly 205,000 that year.

  3. 1898

    The Bread Riots of 1898

    Widespread bread riots broke out across Italy in 1898 due to rising wheat prices, leading to mass repression, including the Bava Beccaris massacre in Milan where up to 400 people were killed.

  4. 1905

    Nationalization of Italian Railways, 1905

    In 1905, the Italian state nationalized the railway network, forming the State Railways (FS) to modernize transport and boost heavy industry.

  5. 1906

    Simplon Tunnel opens, 1906

    In 1906, the Simplon Tunnel, at 19.7 km the world's longest at the time, opened, connecting Italy and Switzerland by rail.

  6. 1913

    Peak of Italian migration, 1913

    In 1913, Italian migration hit a record peak, with 870,000 people leaving the country in a single year.

Family

Parents

Spouses

Children

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.