Alfonso II of Naples

What people wore

Extreme fabric usage in winter garments

In April 1511, some winter garments were so voluminous that they required up to 35 braccia of fabric, making them so heavy that they were difficult to wear.

Daily life

Water collection and sewage management

Florentine homes used roof gutters to collect rainwater into a tank for household use. They also maintained a separate tank for sewage that residents paid to have cleared daily.

Work

Festive Kingdoms and Social Exclusion

Lower-class workers formed festive groups called potenze to reclaim social status, where they elected their own kings and turned their districts into mock kingdoms during holidays like May Day. Additionally, the Wool Guild once funded the massive Cathedral project, yet the subordinate wool-beaters who did the actual work remained excluded from guild politics.

Music

Religious Choirs and Musical Recycling

Devotional companies known as laudesi sang monophonic laude in veneration of the Virgin Mary, and by 1500, they frequently performed three- or four-part polyphony. These groups often recycled melodies from secular carnival songs for their religious hymns, a process known as contrafacture.

At the table

Daily meal schedule for the poor

The poor consumed three scarce daily meals: bread soaked in wine upon waking, lunch around eleven, and dinner after sunset.

Getting around

Value of pack animals in 1387

During the Renaissance, specialized mules were valued; a 1387 document records a mule's worth at 6.10 libbre, compared to 1.76 libbre for a donkey.

What it cost

Food costs and extreme shortages

Food prices fluctuated greatly, with meat like veal costing 3 soldi per pound in stable times, but skyrocketing during shortages when even mice were sometimes sold as food.