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There was never a national Italian dress code for Italian state schools. We do not know much about the 19th century, but we have a good bit of information on the 20th century. Many school adopted smocks, but color and other elements were decided by local school authorities ss wll as to the defree to which the schools insisted on the smocks. Rules about footwear were nonexistent or flexible. This was entirely dependent on the parents, Boys wore both shoes and sandals. About footwear there were many differences. An Italian reader tells us, "My father told me that in his primary school in Milan during the 1930s pupils couldn't attend barefoot." Milan of course was a prosperous northern city. Italy's second largest. This was not the case throughout Italy, especilly in the south.. Many children did come to school barefoot. Many schools in Sardinia and Calabria (southern Italy) commonly came to school barefoot until the 1950s and in some cases into the 1960s. Sandals were also very common.
We do not yet have any information on Italian school wear in the 19th century. This is complicated by he fact that Italy was not unified until the second half of the 19th century. Before that there there were different Italian states with important parts of the northeast still a part of the Italian Empire. We do not yet have information on education in those different polities. Even after unification, Italy did not have a a very well developed education system. Much of the working class did not attend any form of school And photography was not as well developed because much of the population were relatively low income which is why so many Italians emigrated, especially to the United States. Photography is important in assessing clothing and fashion because it is a readily available. It is especially important in our website. Also important in the prevalence of children going barefoot is Italy's warm climate. Because the Italian 19th century photographic record is rather sparse, we have difficulty assessing 19th century trends. We have not yet found 19th century school photographs. This is especially the case for footwear bcause it is the single most expensive garment. If working-class children did attend school in the 19th century, they would probably have come to school barefoot. 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 a related to poverty.
Rules about footwearfor the most part were nonexistent or flexible. Some chools or even municiplities may have some rules, but the photogrphic record suggests that this was the exception and not the rule. Boys wore both shoes and sandals and many went barefoot. About footwear there were many differences.
An Italian reader tells us, "My father told me that in his primary school in Milan during the 1930s pupils couldn't attend barefoot." This was not the case throughout Italy. Milan of course was a prosperous northern city. Italy's second largest. This was not the case throughout Italy, especilly in the south. Many children did come to school barefoot. This was the case until after World War II and the Italian Economic Miracle began to transform the country (1950s). Many schools in Sardinia and Calabria (southern Italy) commonly came to school barefoot until the 1950s and in some cases into the 1960s.
We notice many Italian children wearing sandals to school. In fact we see a wide range of footwear, including diffent kinds of shoes. Many children came to school barefoot as well. Sandals were commonly worn by Italian boys and as there were no uniforms, the sandals at school were largely a relection of the footwear woirn at home. We notice different kinds of sandals. There was no one style as in England that were particulsarly common. We notice both closed and open toe types. There were several different styles of both. In public primary schools there were no uniforms, unless smocks were considered a uniform. But there were no rules about no rules about footwear. So it was up to the family. Family convetions also generally determined wether or not socks were worn with sandals. Private schools might have rules, but they were often not strict. We note the children wearing sandals both with and without socks. Both boys and girls wore sandals. Many styles were worn by both boys and girls.
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