Princess Maria Theresa of Löwenstein-Wertheim-Rosenberg

What people wore

Washing and mending working clothes

Workers often wore the same clothes for entire seasons to avoid wearing out their limited Sunday best, and their laundry was a significant weekly burden that involved extensive washing and patching rather than ironing. On feast days, laundry hanging from windows in popular neighborhoods served as a colorful display of these mended, sometimes faded, working garments.

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.

At the table

Chestnuts as a main meal

Neapolitan families with only one soldo might buy nine boiled chestnuts to eat as a main course, often using the reddish boiling water to soak their bread.

Music

Street musicians for two grani

In Sicily, street musicians playing instruments like the fiddle, mandolin, or flute could be hired for two grani to play popular dance music such as the tarantella or fasola.

Daily life

Compulsory schooling and common truancy challenges

Schooling was compulsory for children aged 6 to 9, but truancy was common because parents often prioritized farm labor. In 1885, a teacher might struggle to manage a class, and when school facilities were rented, they often lacked basic furniture or toilets.