Guglielmo Gonzaga

Getting around

Dangerous mountain travel required extreme caution

Traveling the Apennines was so dangerous and arduous that travelers often made wills and held religious ceremonies before departing to protect themselves from bandits and accidents. Even royal visitors, like Galeazzo Sforza in 1471, had to have their carriages dismantled and moved by mule back.

Daily life

Diet and food preservation methods

Because refrigerators did not exist, food was heavily spiced to help preserve it, leading to gout among the rich who consumed significant amounts of meat. Poorer families relied on simpler diets consisting mainly of vegetables, legumes, and animal innards.

What people wore

The trend of men wearing beards

While once clean-shaven faces were common, by the mid-sixteenth century, about ninety-five out of every hundred Florentine men adopted the trend of wearing beards, which was considered more masculine. Those who chose to remain clean-shaven were often mocked as old-fashioned and labeled with the derisive term zazzeroni.

Music

Recycling popular tunes for religious hymns

Popular Carnival melodies were often recycled for religious use as hymns through a process called contrafacture, allowing people to sing spiritual texts to familiar tunes.

At the table

Meat as a rare treat

When a pig was slaughtered, it was customary for neighbors to share blood sausage as a gesture of friendship and good luck. Meat was otherwise rarely consumed by the poor, reserved primarily for special occasions like holidays.