Figure 1.-- This family portrait was taken in Carini, a big village near Palermo, Sicily. It is undated, but we would guess was taken during the 1920s. We can see the father and the mother with their seven children. In the center of the photo there is the father with two children. The mother is standing in the second row. This arrangement graphically shows the father's role in the patriarchal Italian family at the time.

Here we will follow Italian family fashions over time. HBC has decided to also gather information on entire families. One of the limitations of HBC is that too often we just view boys' clothing out of contex with what the rest of the family was wearing. Many HBC images are isolated portraits of individual boys that do not show the context of the time. This will help to compare boys' clothing with that worn by mothers, fathers, and sisters. These images will help show show differences in both age and gender appropriate clothing.

The 1910s

Farm Family (1910s)

This farm family lived in Fosciandora, a village about 100 km south of Florence. The photograph is undated, but looks to be taken in early 1900s. We wiould guess the 1910s. I'm not sure that is their home in the background. It does not look very substantial. It may be just ahelter used while working in the field.

Palencla Family (about 1910)

Here we see an unidentified family. Theybare from Palencla. We are not sure where that is. We think it may be Italy, but Spain is another possibility. The portrait is alsoundated. We would guess the portrait was taken anout 1910. The father's suit looks very modern. The mother's outfit seems appropriate for about 1910 or perhaps a little earlier. There are four children. On first glance they all look to be girls, but we think one might be a boy.

Chillotti Family (Sardinia, 1914)

Here we see the Chillotti family in 1914. They lived in Ulassai a mountain village in Sardinia. The parents wear the traditional clothing. Nowadays these clothing are worn only in folk festivals, but then were still worn in daily life, especially in little villages. Probably this is a shepherd family. In that time Sardinian shepherd children go often barefoot in summer, saving footwear for cold mountain winter (instead fisher children go often barefoot all year round). However the barefoot younger boy in the family portrait can mean that he doesn’t own any footwear. They can be also an illustration of the affirmation on the Italian barefoot page that "a child went barefoot to school or to church or for a formal portarit only if he did not have shoes and was thus forced to go barefoot".

The 1920s

Patriarcial Family (Sicily, 1920s)

This family portrait was taken in Carini, a big village near Palermo, Sicily. It is undated, but we would guess was taken during the 1920s. We can see the father and the mother with their seven children. In the center of the photo there is the father with two children. The mother is standing in the second row. This arrangement graphically shows the father's role in the patriarchal Italian family at the time.

Unidentified Family (Sardinia, 1920)

Here we see an unidentified family also in the Sardinina village of Ulassai in 1920. The boys wear jackets that buttoned at the collar and did not have lapels. This style was no longer fashionable but had been worn before World War I. There are two younger children wearing skirts and petticoats. We do not know if they were boys or girls. Two young women, wear identical outfits with head scarves. One of the women is surely the mother. I'm not sure who the other woman is.

Soardi Family (Iseo Lake, 1920)

Here is a photograoh of the Soardi family, a fisherman family on Iseo Lake in North Italy, near Trento. The picture was taken in 1920. They wear their daily clothing and the three younger children are barefoot. The Iseo Lake is in Alpi Mountains (where winter is enough cold) and I think that children owned best clothing then that here we can see and also footwear, but they don’t wear in this photo. That is uncommon because usually children wear the best clothing in a family portrait. In that time nevertheless low condition children go often barefoot in warm weather and more fisherman children.

Brother and Sister (1924)

Here is a portrait of an unidentified brother and sister taken in 1924. They are dressed up for the portrait, but not in particularly forml clothing. It is is an interesting companion photo as we have a portrit of this same boy in his First Communion outfit. The portait was taken somewhere in Italy, but we do not know just where. The boy seems to be about a year or two younger than the boy who was dressed for communion, but he wears similar clothing. Here he seems to be about 8 or 9 years old (not 10 as in the first communion portrait).

The 1930s

Pofi Family (1939)

The photo was taken in Pofi, a village about 100 km south-east of Rome. It was taken in 1939, probably by an itinerant photographer. The photo shows a mother with her children. The elder boy wears jacket and short pants with close-toe sandals and socks. The girl wears a white dress and close-toe sandals without socks.

The 1940s

Farm Family (1940s)

This unidentified farm family was photographed in their home listening to the radio. The photograph was taken in southern Italy after World War II during the late 1940s. The older individuals look to be the grand parents.

Lenzi Family (1943)

Here we see the Lenzi Family. They lived in Avellino, a town in southern Italy near Naples. The pprtrait was taken in 1943 during World War II. It was probably before the Allied invasion (September 1943) which targeted Naples. This was the most important port in southern Italy. The Lenzi family had 12 children. We see the parents and all 12 children. Fascist authorities promoted large families as did the Catholic Church. The younger boy wears a sailor suit, another brother wears a sort of cardigan and two others short pants suits. The three boys that we can see in front wear open-toe sandals without socks. This was more common in southern than northern Italy.

Marino Family (1947)

This photo was taken in Ragusa, a little town in inland Sicily. It show the Marino family in 1947. The girls are wearing white dresses, socks and footwear. The boy, aged 12, wears a suit with short pants. He is wearing open-toe sandals with white ankle-socks. At the time that was a good formal clothing for a boy belonging to a middle or low-middle class family. Today the conventions are changed. short pants suits are unusual and only for younger children. A boy aged 12 wears often short pants in summer, but only with casual clothing. Usually white socks are seen as inappropriate for boys. Many people think that sandals, especially open-toe sandals, must bee worn always without socks, so usually sandals are not worn with a suit.

The 1950s

Urban Family (1950s)

This photograph shown here is an urban Italian family (figure 1). Unfortunately, the family is unidentified. We also do nit do not know where the family was photographed. The photograpoh is undated, but we would guess that it was taken during the 1950s. Presumably the father took the photogrsaph. The boys wear short pants and knee socks. The girl wears a skirt and knee ocks. Note the girl's double hair bows.

Pizzati Family (1956)

This is a studio portrait of Pizzati family in 1956. The photo was taken in Samo, a little village in the Calabria region (southern Italy around Naples). The father and the elder son are in the back wearing suits. In the front we can see the mother and the younger son. He is wearing short trousers and a jacket with a dark shirt. He wears close-toe sandals without socks. We do not know a great deal about the family, but they seem to be benefitting by Italy's growing post-World War II economy. Modest-income famiklies like this would not have been so smartly dressed before the War.

Village Family (1957)

This is a unidentified family portrait taken in 1957 in Castelforte, a village near Rome. The photo looks to have been taken during some kind of family gathering. It is clearly summertime. The Catholic priest in the middle of the photo was also a relative. The two boys in the photo are wearing short pants and shirts. They look like they are about 4 and 10 years old. The younger one wears open-toe sandals, while the older is barefoot. The image suggests the boy from a family in comfortable circumstances is going barefoot out of prevernce. Mamy Italian photographs show poor children going barefoot. A girl wears a dress with a long skirt. Giels in Italy still wore mostly dresses during the 1950s.

The 1960s

Village Near Naples (early-1960s)

This photo was tajen in the early-1960s in a village near Naples. We see Filippo, Beatrice and Pasquale Pisacane with their mother and the newest addition to the family--their sister Maria. We are not sure where father is. This photo was taken in the summer. Mother liked to dress the boys identically. Both boys wear the same outfits: short pants and striped t-shirts. The elder boy wears shoes with white ankle socks and his younger brother sandals without socks.

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Created: June 1, 2004
Last updated: 9:39 PM 8/20/2009