Ercole Rinaldo d'Este

At the table

Tomatoes were a daily staple food

During the eighteenth century, tomatoes were already part of the daily diet in Sardinia and were preserved for long-term use with vinegar, a preparation known as sa pibarda.

What people wore

Everyday dress for peasant men

Peasant men typically dressed in coarse-fabric jackets, knee-length breeches, and waistcoats. While these garments were not refined in cut, there was a noticeable attention to detail and a sense of good taste in the pairing of colors.

Getting around

Walking or riding donkeys for travel

Ordinary people typically traveled to work in fields on foot or by using donkeys, as there were no roads in many rural areas.

What it cost

Self-Sufficiency and Rural Debt

Many rural families produced their own food and clothing instead of buying them, often paying artisans like cobblers or tailors with their own farm products rather than using money. In some areas, sharecropping families were frequently deeply indebted to their landlords, with average debts reaching 82 scudi.

Music

Common dances: baddu pasturinu and baddu tundu

In this period, people frequently performed two main types of dances: the baddu pasturinu (pastoral dance) for pairs and the baddu tundu (round dance) for groups holding hands in a circle.

Daily life

Primitive one-room homes for the poor

For the poor, homes were primitive, one-room ground-floor dwellings built from raw bricks or stone with packed-earth or cobblestone floors and no windows. The hearth was dug into the floor in the center of the room, and the home contained only a large parents' bed and mats for the children.