Italian Boys' Activities: Play


Figure 1.--The photo was taken in 1947, the difficult post-World War II years before European integration and fee market capitalism began te remake Italy. The boys are from Cetara, now a popular seaside resort near Amalfi. This is about 50 kms from Naples in southern Italy. At the time this photograph was taken, Cetara was a sleepy fishing village. The children, probably fishermen's children, are playing cards.

Play is of course an important topic on any assessment of children's activities in the various countries. Our Italian photographic archive is not as large as that of several other of the larger European countries. Much of our HBC assessments come from assessing the available photographic record. We have relatively few images of Italian children at play. Thus we know less about children's play in Italy than many other countries. A factor with Italy is economics. Italy was a very poor country, especially southern Italy. This affected play as many children had to begin working at a fairly early age. We know very little about toys and games in Italy. Surely the toy most associated with Italy is the puppet, of cource because of the charming Pinochio story. We are not sure, however, if puppets were actually more popular in Italy than other countries. Puppets were a wood toy and large areas of Italy have very limited lummber resorces. The topic of play is one we hope to expand on as HBC grows. As far as we can tell, these seem similar to games and toys in other European countries. Here we see boys playing cards, but are not sure what game they are playing (figure 1). Sport became increasingly popular in the 20th century. Again a factor is economics. A prosperous economy leads to more leisure time which affects the aability to participate in and enjoy sports as a soectator. The principal sport is of course football. Thereseems to be a passion that developed primarily during the post-World War II era. Another interesting topic is social and family ties and play. We seem to notice more mixed groups than we see in several other countries (America, Britain, and Germany).

Limited Information

Play is of course an important topic on any assessment of children's activities in the various countries. Our Italian photographic archive is not as large as that of several other of the larger European countries. Much of our HBC assessments come from assessing the available photographic record. We have relatively few images of Italian children at play. Thus we know less about children's play in Italy than many other countries.

Economy

A factor with Italy is economics. Italy in modern times was a very poor country, especially southern Italy. This only began tonchange after World War II and the economic recovery led by Italy. This of course affects play as many children had to begin working at a fairly early age. An of course it affects the toys and play item vailabl to children.

Toys

We know very little about toys in Italy. Surely the toy most associated with Italy is the puppet, of cource because of the charming Pinochio story. We are not sure, however, if puppets were actually more popular in Italy than other countries. Puppets were a wood toy and large areas of Italy have very limited lummber resorces. The topic of toys is one we hope to expand on as HBC grows. As far as we can tell, these seem similar to toys in other European countries.

Games

We notice Italian children playing aange of games. We notice both informal and formal games. There were a range of field games involving teams. Some sound very familar with different names. We note Guardie e Lardi (Cops and Robbers). It sounds rather like Capture the Flag, not like the informal Cops and Robbers we used to play. Lupo Mangia Frutta (Wolf Eating Fruit) is another team field came. This is sort of like Go Fish without the cards. Strega Ghiaccio (Ice Witch) is a tag came where the witch (it) feeze tags the other children. Piovra (Octopus) is a particularly popular game. It is another tag game with a different twist, less running than most tag games. Playes tagged become baby octopuses, but have to stan still, they can only tag players who come near. There were also indoor or less active games like cards. Here we see boys playing cards, but are not sure what game they are playing (figure 1). An especially interesting game is morra. All that is needed is your hands. No one knows its origins, but it is known to date back millenia to ancient Greece and Rome. It can be played by two or more playrs. More than five or so becomes unwildly. The game is played by each participant revealing their hand, simultaneously extending any number of fingers and calling out a number. A player successfully guessing the total number of fingers revealed by all players combined scores a point. This may be the oldest game still played.

Sports

Sport became increasingly popular in the 20th century. Again a factor is economics. A prosperous economy leads to more leisure time which affects the ability to participate in and enjoy sports as a spectator. The principal sport is of course football, as is the case throughout most of Europe. There seems to be a passion that developed primarily during the post-World War II era. We do not know of any modern sports that originated it Italy which is kind of interesting given that Italy was part of the cassical world and tied to Greece in many ways. Sport was more imprtant in Greece and Rome than anywhere else in the ancient world. Greece is renenvbered for the Olympics and of course Rome for the gladitorial games. Horse racing was especially important in Rome. And a hipodrome was an important part of major Roman cities.

Society

Another interesting topic is social and family ties and play. We seem to notice more mixed groups than we see in several other countries (America, Britain, and Germany). We mostly see boys and girls in America playing separately. That was also true in Italy, but we also see mixed groups. A factor here that many Italian schools wee single gender schools. And we see boys watching over younger children in what looks like family settings in Italy. This was much less common in America and more likely to be done by older girls. We think this is something American boys might have though was only for girls. I recall a Norman Rockwell Saturdy Evening Post cover in which a well-dressed boy was being teased for pushing a pram with a baby sibling. This may have been something more common in Italian society. We suspect this reflects wider social and family relations we do not know a great deal about, but is worth pursuing as our play and family relations pages develop. There may also be regional difference, especially between southern and northern Italy. This is a section we have just begun to work on.








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Created: 9:01 AM 3/25/2014
Last updated: 11:40 PM 1/18/2017