Bianca Maria Visconti

What people wore

Restrictions on jewelry for young adults

Sumptuary laws issued in 1516 forbade residents under thirty from wearing jewels or pearls, though they were permitted to own no more than three rings decorated with precious stones.

Daily life

Practical schooling and early childhood guidance

Merchant children attended abacus schools that taught reading, writing, and arithmetic in a practical way specifically for trade. By age four or five, play toys like swords and hobby horses were used to direct children toward their future societal roles.

Work

Common Jobs in the Wool Industry

The wool industry was the primary employer in Florence, relying on many unskilled laborers known as the Ciompi who prepared raw wool in merchant-owned workshops. Other common roles included silk production, construction, and various specialized artisanal trades.

Music

Religious Choirs and Musical Recycling

Devotional companies known as laudesi sang monophonic laude in veneration of the Virgin Mary, and by 1500, they frequently performed three- or four-part polyphony. These groups often recycled melodies from secular carnival songs for their religious hymns, a process known as contrafacture.

At the table

Meat reserved for special celebrations

Meat was reserved for special occasions like holidays, and when a family slaughtered a pig, they typically offered blood sausage to neighbors as a gesture of friendship.

Getting around

Value of pack animals in 1387

During the Renaissance, specialized mules were valued; a 1387 document records a mule's worth at 6.10 libbre, compared to 1.76 libbre for a donkey.

What it cost

Food costs and extreme shortages

Food prices fluctuated greatly, with meat like veal costing 3 soldi per pound in stable times, but skyrocketing during shortages when even mice were sometimes sold as food.