Emanuele di Borbone-Due Sicilie

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.

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.

Daily life

School uniforms and lack of toilets

School children wore mandatory aprons; boys wore black with blue bows, while girls wore white with pink bows, with stripes on the sleeves indicating their grade. Due to severe facility shortages, some students had to relieve themselves in school courtyards or nearby outhouses because toilets were often absent.

Work

Eight-Hour Workday in Pazzano Mines

In the Pazzano iron mines, a regulation established in 1845 set a working day of eight hours, which was notably shorter than the 10 to 16 hours common elsewhere in the Kingdom.

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.

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.