Archduke Ferdinand Karl Viktor of Austria-Este

At the table

Scrap fish for a soldo

For one soldo, a poor resident could buy a small paper cone of fried fish known as fragaglia, which were the scraps from the bottom of fishmongers' baskets.

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.

What it cost

Food prices for daily necessities

Bread cost 6 grana per rotolo (approx. 890 grams), while beef cost 16 grana and a liter of wine was 3 grana. Pasta was a staple, with machine-made pasta costing 7 grana and finer varieties reaching 8 grana per rotolo.

Music

The tarantella: a dance of courtship

Ordinary people danced the tarantella, a passionate courtship dance that viewers saw as a living poem of love. It was performed by young people using castanets and tambourines, often accompanied by singing.

Daily life

Gender-restricted education controlled by the Church

There was no compulsory schooling, and education was heavily influenced by the Church, with 30 articles regulating male education versus only 22 for females. While boys could study reading, writing, and arithmetic, girls' education was largely restricted to domestic arts, catechism, and religious duties.