Figure 1.--This photograph shows an Italian family. It is undated, but we would guess that it was taken during the 1950s. Note the girl's hair bows.

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

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 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.

The 1950s

Urban Family (1950s)

This photograph shown here is an urban Italian family (figure 1). We do not know where the family was photographed. It is undated, but we would guess that it was taken during the 1950s. Note the girl's hair bows.

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: Filippo, Beatrice and Pasquale Pisacane