Empress Maria Anna of Austria

What people wore

Cost of wedding attire

A wedding dress for an ordinary person usually cost up to 30 ducats, though wealthy families could spend up to 300 ducats on garments with gold and silver fabrics.

Getting around

The Lettiga: A Mule-Drawn Carriage

The lettiga, a national carriage suspended between two mules, was a common way to travel through regions lacking roads suitable for wheeled vehicles. It was notoriously fatiguing and slow, moving at an average speed of about three miles per hour.

At the table

Common drinks and food prices

Drinking coffee became a general habit even among the lowest laborers, who consumed it in the morning as a digestive aid. By 1816, a liter of wine cost 3 grana, while a roll of bread weighing nearly a kilogram cost 6 grana.

Music

Music during religious festival processions

Religious processions often featured musicians, including porters who danced while carrying heavy barrels of wine on their shoulders to the sound of a distant orchestra.

Daily life

Peasant homes shared space with livestock

In small villages like Fardella, peasant houses often consisted of a single room where families cooked, ate, and slept, sometimes sharing the space with livestock like pigs or donkeys. Light entered through small windows designed to keep out the cold, and many homes lacked both electricity and running water.

Work

Pluriactivity Among Workers

Many workers engaged in multiple jobs simultaneously, such as a cobbler who also performed construction work, to ensure they had income throughout the year. Because of limited work availability, skilled artisans often had to diversify their trades to avoid periods of unemployment.