Alexandrine Prinzessin zu Windisch-Grätz

What people wore

Respectful dress for feast days

For working families, a clean white shirt or a well-preserved jacket kept by attentive wives was considered essential for church or feast days to show respect to God and demonstrate civility. Ordinary laborers often spent their weekdays in worn clothing, but would carefully maintain these finer garments specifically for such holy occasions.

Getting around

Steamboat Travel on the Ljubljanica River

In 1840, the steamboat Archduke John began operating on the Ljubljanica River, drastically cutting the travel time between Ljubljana and Vrhnika from the 8 to 10 hours required by traditional boatmen to just 2 hours and 45 minutes. Despite this technological leap, the steamer was withdrawn after ten years due to frequent accidents.

At the table

Frugal flavor for polenta

For peasant families, one salted herring was considered sufficient to flavor a large serving of polenta for at least three people.

Music

Pifferari musicians perform for the Madonna

As Christmas approached, wandering musicians known as pifferari traveled from the mountains to Rome, playing bagpipes and oboe-like pifferi to perform devotional concerts before images of the Madonna.

Daily life

Poor housing and shared living spaces

In many rural areas, peasant families lived in small, damp, two-story houses with dirt floors, often sharing space and warmth with their livestock during the winter. Urban poor households frequently lacked windows, relied on smoke-filled kitchens, and suffered from a lack of sanitation, such as sewers or waste collection.

What it cost

Coffee and diet of the poor

In the mid-19th century, luxury items like a cup of coffee cost 2 grana, a price that laborers often paid daily as a digestive despite their poverty. At the same time, many workers lived as mangiafoglie, eating pasta only occasionally because it was expensive relative to their daily wages.