Figure 1.-- Here we see a school photograph from the 1960s in Tratalias, a small town in southern Sardinia. Thechildren are well dressed. Notice the wide variety of footwear. A decade earlier and many of these children would hsve been barefoot. An Italian reader points out, "Only two of the boys who we can see are barefoot, but very few of the pupils wear socks. Both the economy and the children's choice could be involved. As a child, my choice in the summer was always to be sockless (not always the choice of my mother)."

A lot of Italian children went to school barefoot, meaning of course they were not wearing shoes and hosiery. Economics and geograohy meaning climate were important factors. For the better off familes, modesty was also a factor in the 19th century. There was a huge north-south divide. This was a primarily a economic matter and especially common in the poverty-stricken south as well as the islands like Sardinia and Sicily. But climate meaning warmer weather conditions in the south were imprtant. We note children wearing long stockings in the 19th and early-20th century, but not as commonly as in northern Europe, here both climate and poverty were factors. Knee socks were common in the 20th century inter-War era and at mid-century. Subsequently ankle socks became standard. There continued to be north-south divided into the post-War era. As the economy improved as a result of the Italian Economic Miracle, we see more and more children wearing some type of footwear. Even so hosiery continued to be rare with the children now wearing footwear. This was not only in the south, but also the islands wher traditional patterns persisted. Here poverty was becoming less of an issue, but the children apparently were more comfortable not wearing socks. This was not the case in the north, where hosiery was much more common--more like the general pattern in the rest of Europe.

Navigate the Relate Boys Historical Clothing Style Pages
[Return to the Main Italian school uniform garment page]
[Return to the Main school uniform romper page ]
[Return to the Main Italian romper suit page]
[Long pants suits] [Short pants suits] [Lederhosen] [Knee socks] [Eton suits]
[Jacket and trousers] [Blazer [School sandals]

Navigate the Boys' Historical Clothing School Uniform Pages
[Main Italian School Uniform Page]
[Main School Uniform national page]
[Australia] [England] [France] [Germany]
[Ireland] [Japan] [New Zealand] [Scotland]
[United States]

Navigate the Boys' Historical Clothing Web Page
[About Us]
[Activities] [Chronology] [Clothing styles] [Countries] [Debate] [Economics] [Garment] [Gender] [Hair] [History] [Home trends] [Literary characters]
[School types] [Significance] [Transport and travel [Uniform regulations] [Year level] [Other topics]
[Images] [Links] [Registration] [Tools]
[Return to the Historic Boys' School Home]

Created: 9:28 PM 3/10/2024
Last updated: 9:28 PM 3/10/2024