Carlo Emanuele IV of Sardinia

What people wore

Valuable Inherited Traditions

Traditional clothing was considered a highly valuable heritage passed down through generations, often held as a precious treasure or heirloom. Families in each community were responsible for preserving the specific techniques and processes required to manufacture this traditional attire.

Getting around

Strict schedules for grain carts

Farmers transporting grain to cities used slow ox-drawn carts and had to arrive before noon, or they were forced to stay overnight in the town outskirts.

At the table

Bread as the daily foundation

For ordinary families, bread was the central pillar of daily nutrition, often complemented by cheese, legumes, seasonal fruits, and occasionally pork from home-raised pigs.

Music

The launeddas: a traditional wind instrument

The launeddas, a wind instrument made of three cane pipes of different lengths, was played professionally during processions, religious festivals, and dances in southern Sardinia.

Daily life

Primitive one-room homes for the poor

For the poor, homes were primitive, one-room ground-floor dwellings built from raw bricks or stone with packed-earth or cobblestone floors and no windows. The hearth was dug into the floor in the center of the room, and the home contained only a large parents' bed and mats for the children.

What it cost

Cost of game and poultry

In Nice, part of the Kingdom of Sardinia at the time, a capon, a brace of partridges, or a good hare cost 30 sols.