Figure 1.--This class photo was taken in San Pier Niceto, a Sicilian village in the hills near Messina. The photo is undated, but was probably taken in the 1960s, perhaps the late-60s. Most pupils are wearing black smocks with white collars and floppy bows. This is the classic clothing at Italian primary schools. Almost all the boys wear short pants. The collars of some boys are not made in cotton cloth, as usual, but rather knitted or made with lace. That was a little unusual for boys. A boy in the back wears a shirt and pullover without a smock. A boy in the front row wears a white shirt with short sleeves. Notice he is wearing flip flops, that was also somewhat unusual. During 1960s in some poorer Italian regions there were still some children attending school barefoot, but we have not seen other chioldren wearing flip-flops to school.

Many Italian primary children in the 1960s wore dark school smocks. The boys mostly wore short pants. The girls wore dresses. The smocks commonly were worn with shite collars and small floppy bows. This varied somewhat from school to school. Most children came to school with shoes, but there were still some children in poorer areas who came barefoot. Often there were some children who did not wear smocks. We are not sure just why that was. The schools seemed to have tolerated some diversity. But not all schools required smocks, but it was very common. Apperently it was a matter of individual school policy. We note city boys, possibly in Rome, feeding pigeons in a piazza. The boys wear suit jackets rather than smocks. We are not sure what role the Minidtyry of Education played. A few boys wore long pants, but short pants were more common. We do not see a lot of children wearing knee socks, at least when the weather was warm. Here there was some seasonality.

Navigate the Relate Boys Historical Clothing Style Pages
[Main country page]
[Long pants suits] [Short pants suits] [Lederhosen] [Kneesocks] [Eton suits]
[Jacket and trousers] [Blazer [School sandals]

Navigate the Boys' Historical Clothing School Uniform Pages
[Return to the Main Italian 20th century School Uniform chronology page]
[Return to the Main Italian School Uniform chronology page]
[Return to the Main School Uniform national page]
[Australia] [England] [France] [Germany]
[Ireland] [Japan] [New Zealand] [Scotland]
[United States]

Navigate the Boys' Historical Clothing Web Site:
[Introduction] [Activities] [Biographies] [Chronology] [Clothing styles] [Countries]
[Bibliographies] [Contributions] [FAQs] [Glossaries] [Images] [Links] [Registration] [Tools]
[Boys' Clothing Home]

Created: 9:23 AM 8/11/2011
Last updated: 9:23 AM 8/11/2011