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We have much more information on the 20th century thanks to the far greater prevalence of photographic images. Especially important is the number of school photographs that we have found after the turn of the 20th century. And we see school attendance becoming prevalent even among working-class families. Most notable is the number of children who come to school barefoot. This was the case throughout the first half of the century. And reflected the endemic poverty in Italy, especially southern Italy. We also see children wearing sandals, especially inexpensive Roman sandals rather than English school sandals which are more like shoes. This did not change until after World War II when the Italian Economic Miracle began to transform the country (1950s). Also at this time we begin to see flip-flops, very inexpensive footwear. By the 1960s we begin to see far fewer children coming to school barefoot and the practice began to be seen as related to poverty. Sandals and fip-flops were very common. While many children had some form of footwear, quite a few children did not wear some kind of hosiery.
We have much more information on the 20th century thanks to the far greater prevalence of photographic images. Especially important is the number of school photographs that we have found after the turn of the 20th century. And we see school attendance becoming prevalent even among working-class families. Most notable is the number of children who come to school barefoot. This was the case throughout the first half of the century. And reflected the endemic poverty in Italy, especially southern Italy. Of course sitution in the 1900s gives us a clue about the 19th century.
Many working-class children came to school barefoot. This was especially the case in southern Italy as well as Sicily and Sardinia. We are kess sure about northern Italy, but suspect children in rural areas also commonly cane io school barefoot, at least in warm weathr. We also see children wearing sandals by the 1920s, especially inexpensive Roman sandals rather than English school sandals which are more like shoes. But this was more common in cities than in rural areas. Both boys abd girls cane to school barefoot. Musolini and the Fascists seized power (1923). The Fascists took an interests in education. The Fascists discoraged coeducation. It was no commob at the time, but some village schools were coeducational. There was also an emphasis on school smocks. As best we can tell, smocks were mostly worn in rural schools. During the Fascist years we see children in rural areas wearing smocks. Footear did not chabnge durung the Fascist era. Thtcwa an economic issue. Foot =wear is epensive and Fascism did nor create the properity that parents needed to buy shoes. the
The world wide Depression dominated the economies of countries around the world. The protectionist policies of the United States and other countries impacted Italy. Even more imprtant in any economics discussion is Italy's enormous north/south divide. This of course impacted schoolwear , affecting how parents could afford to dress their children. And footwear was the single most important expensive garment parents were faced with. The situation did not change in southern Italy because many children did not have a shoes, even in good times. The situation was different in northern Italy. Most children in rural areas commonly went barefoot, but school was different. Most children wore shoes to school. As far as we can tell, this was because parents saw school as imprtant and they thoughht it important to dress them well for school. Another factor may be that it was in part a matter of pride. Parents did not want to be seen as poor or unsucessful, which would result from sending their kids to school barefoot. We are unsure as to just how important each of these factors were. We do not think that the schools were insisting. It seems crueto think schools would turn away really poor children, but we do not know this for a fact. An Italian reader has provided some information about Lombardy. This was where the big industrial city of Milan was located. But we see this trend of waring shoes to school impacting the rural areas as well. An Italian reader writes, "This is also what my father told me. He attended the first years of primary school in the mid-1930s at Rho, in the countryside outside Milan. He wore wooden shoes in bad weather, otherwise he went barefoot. For school, however, he had to wear his wooden shoes. When the weather was good, he would put them on just before entering the school building and then took them off after leaving school." This suggests that it was the school enforcing the rule.
Italy joined NAZI Germany in World War II in the hope of sharing in the NAZI loot (1940). The results were a disaster. Not only did Italain armies fail abroad, but he Allies invaded Italy (September 1943) and then fought the Germans all the way uo the peninuaa before surendrting in northern Italy (May 1945) leaving behind a landscape of disaster. Fortunately for the children there, there was very little fighting on Sardinia. Sardinia fared relatively well, but thre was some bombing because of the Axis airfields there. The Allies tried to midirect the Germans into believing there would be an invasion in 1943. After the Allied invasion of Italy, however the Germans withdrew. Recovery was just only beginning at the end of the decade. We have a photo taken over a decade earlier than the photograph here (figure 1), probably about 1948 at another primary school in Carbonia (Giovanni Pascoli). An Italian reader writes, "Some of the boys have come to school barefoot, and at that time it looked entirely normal and not t remarkable. Neither the children nor the teacher seem to see it as something that should be hidden." But unlike before the War many of the children have shoes. We are not sure why the photographer teacher has chossen the site here for her class portrit. It was not a Roman ruin.
This did not change until after World War II when the Italian Economic Miracle began to transform the country (1950s). Alsowe begin to see flip-flops at the end of the decade. at this time we begin to see flip-flops, very inexpensive footwear. We see major changes by the 1950s. The Italian school system had expanded, more school anf more children attending them. And as a result, the literacy has increased hugely. We note in poorer areas like the south and Sadinia reaching approxging 80 percent reported in the 1951 census. Smocks were still very common, but unlike earlier decade, we see far fewer childldren coming to school barefoot.
By the 1960s we begin to see far fewer children coming to school barefoot and the practice began to be seen as related to poverty. Sandals and fip-flops were very common. While many children had some form of footwear, quite a few children did not wear some kind of hosiery. An Italian reader tells us, "There is something strange about the class photo here (figure 1). It was taken in Carbonia during the 1963-64 school year at the Mazzini primary school. Giuseppe Mazzini (1805-72), depicted in the photo on the wall, was a primary figure in the fight dor the unification of Italy. Even many prmary schools were single gender schools. The boys pose in two rows. We cannot see the legs and feet of almost all the boys in the back row. It seems to me that the only explanation is that the photographer removed these parts during the photo printing process. I don't know why he would have done that. The only reason that seems plausible to me is that the children were barefoot and they wanted to avoid showing that. In the front row, all of the children are wearing some kind of footwear (one boy is wearing only clogs). Carbonia is a town in southern Sardinia. It was built in the 1930s to provide housing for the families of the workers in the nearby mines. The name Carbonia comes from the Italian word 'carbone' which means coal."
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