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Italy is best known for its long boot-like 500-mile-long peninsula. It juts southeast from the European mainland into the Mediterranean Sea. he Italian peninsla is surely the most heavily poplated and important in the world. And it means that the Italian people are closer to the sea than any non-insular people. Even so, they are not paricully knowenas a sea-going people, especially the Romans. taly is a country that has been at the center of Western civilization. Italy is central for several reasons. It was the continuation of classical Greek civilzation and helped transmit it throughout Western Europe. Rome was not as innovative as classical Greece, but it effectively preserved and transmitted classical Greek thought. Rome's own main unique contribution to Western civilization was secular law. As imperfectly administered as it was, the legal tradition guaranteeing rights to the individual which even the state cannot violate, was perhaps Rome's greatest achievement. It stands to day as one of the central pillars of Western civilization. It is ironic that the origin of the Western legal tradition was a war-like state based upon conquest and slavery. Italy gave birth to the Renaissance and was where modern Europe first began emerging from feudalism. Modern banking first emerged in Italy. Italian navigators played a major role in the European outreach by Portugal and Spain. Italy itself without an Atlantic coast did not share economically in that outreach. Religious conservatism and the Counter Reformatiion retarded the scientific inquiry that had begun as part of the Renaissance. Italy divided into minor states became a prize fought over by more powerful European powers emerging as unified nation states.
Italian clothes for boys involved the same fashionsd as those common in the rest of western Europe during the 19th and 20th centuries. Unfortunately, I have very limited specific informtion on Italy--nor have we been able to acquire many images on Italian boys clothes. HBC has been rather surprised at our failure to obtain information on Italian boys' clothes as Italy has in many ways been a leader in children's fashions. Hopefully some of the Italian visitors to this web site will provide some information and insights on historical Italian boys' styles and fashion trends. We've created this page primarily as a page to enter future information. Interestingly there have been numerous Italian visitors to HBC. The topic of historical clothe does seem of interest. Unfortuntalely no Italian visitors have yet made contribution to HBC. This is unfortunate as the topic of Italian boys' fashions is of some interest. We believe that the limited response from Italy may be at least partialy a language problem.
Italy is best known for its long boot-like 500-mile-long peninsula. It juts southeast from the European mainland into the Mediterranean Sea. he Italian peninsla is surely the most heavily poplated and important in the world. And it means that the Italian people are closer to the sea than any non-insular people. Even so, they are not paricully known as a sea-going people, especially the Romans. There was lone notble excption--the late middle ages leading up the great European voyages of discovery. This resulted during the Renassance. Europeans got a taste for Asin goods during the Crusades. Italy became the primary route for goods from China and India through the Middle East to flow into Europe. Ialians city states bcame rich with this maritime trade (Amalfi, Genoa, Palermo, Pisa, and Venice). As Europeans began thinking about a sea route to Asia, it was Italans that had advanced nautical skills. One such Italian navigator of course was Chrisopher Columbus. The Apennine Mountains run the length of the peninsula from the Po Valley in the north forming the rugged backbone of the peninsula. The eastward-flowing Po River forms an immense fertile valley valley (stretching 300 miles). The Po Valley is Italy's breadbasket and partly for this reason is where Italian industry developed in the modern era. To the north are the towering Alps cutting Italy off from the European mainland. Here the beautiful lake district is located as well as highest Alpine peaks. The Po Valley, however is not where Italian civilization first developed. We suspect the Po's more northerly location (compared to the Tigris/Euphrates and he Nile) were factors here. Rather civilization in Italy developed further south, first with the Etruscans and of course the Romans. The Italian boots terminates with Sicily which acts as a giant stopper in the Mediterranean, dividing it into western and eastern sectors. As so much of early Western history played out around the Mediterranean, Italy and Sicily were inevitably going to play major roles. here are four major regions of Italy: northern, central, southern, and island areas. Istria was once of importance. The Italian islands of Sicily and Sardinia in the west are the largest islands in the Mediterranean. It is on these and smaller islands that Italy emerges in recorded with the appearance of Phonetician and Greek trading colonies. While this occurred on or off southern Italy, the south actually has inherent problems which has affected it's development in modern times. First there is nothing like the Pol Valley in the south. There are no extensive areas of flat arable land. Second the south is not well watered.
taly is a country that has been at the center of Western civilization. Italy is central for several reasons. It was the continuation of classical Greek civilzation and helped transmit it throughout Western Europe. Rome was not as innovative as classical Greece, but it effectively preserved and transmitted classical Greek thought. Rome's own main unique contribution to Western civilization was secular law. As imperfectly administered as it was, the legal tradition guaranteeing rights to the individual which even the state cannot violate, was perhaps Rome's greatest achievement. It stands to day as one of the central pillars of Western civilization. It is ironic that the origin of the Western legal tradition was a war-like state based upon conquest and slavery. Italy's importance is not limited to ancient Rome. It was medieval Italy that reintroduced classical thinking to the West through the Renaisance which played such a central role in the development of the Western tradition. Some of the great treasures of Western civilization come down to us from the Italian Renaissance which of course sparked a Renaissance throughout Western Europe. The Western Christianity and Islam share many of the same traditions. Where they diverge stems from the fact that Islamic culture did not experience the Renaissance. After the Renaissance, the focus of European history shifts north, in part because the Catholic Counter Reformation prevented the Reformation from entering Italy. Italy was one of the last major European states to unify. The country participated in the colonial scramble for Africa, but felt slighted. Large numbers of Italians emigrated to America. Italy fought with the Allies during World War I. The country afterthe War embraced Fascism under Mussolini and fought with NAZI Germany during World War II. Italy joined NATO during the Cold war despite having the largest Communist Party in the West.
Italy gave birth to the Renaissance and was where modern Europe first began emerging from feudalism. Modern banking first emerged in Italy. Italian navigators played a major role in the European outreach by Portugal and Spain. Italy itself without an Atlantic coast did not share economically in that outreach. Religious conservatism and the Counter Reformatiion retarded the scientific inquiry that had begun as part of the Renaissance. Italy divided into minor states became a prize fought over by more powerful European powers emerging as unified nation states. This included the Austrians, French, and Spanish. Italy is one of the major European countries in terms of population, but was not unified until relative late (1860s). The unified country was a relatively poor country. At a time when national wealth was still significantly impacted by agriculture, the relatively poor agricultural land in many areas of Italy were unable to support the large Italian population. Southern Italy in particular was virtualy feudal. Northern Italy, in part because of the Austrian influence was more modern with a degree of industrialization. Italians migrated abroad to both South America (especially Argentina and Brazil) and the United States seeking jobs. Many Italians stayed in America, but larger numbers took their earnings home to buy land and small shops in their home communities. Mussolini and the Fascists set out to modernize Italy after World War I and obtain colonies. There were some suceesses, but Mussolini also led Italy into World War II and the country was devestated. European integration following the War brought led to the European Union bringing Italy fully into the 20th century. Italy has prospered as part of a united Italy. At first Italian workers went to Germany seeking jobs. Expanding Italian indidtry created jobs in Italy so Italians no longer had to seek jobs abroad. Socialists and Communists commanded widespread political support. As a result, Italy created a substantial welfare state with enormous entitlements. Unlike Germany and the northern European states, however, the Italian welfare state was created with little considerartion of the ability to pay out the commitments made. Now Italy faces the sane problem as many other European countries. The Government has promissed massive social welfare entitlements that are becoming increasingly difficult to finance and are impeading economic growth. Unlike the smaller states (Greece, Portugal, and Ireland), the financial commitments of the Government are enormous streaching the capability of the EU to finance a bailout. The fiscal position of Italian banks is also being questioned.
HBC has some very limited chronological information on Itlaian boys' clothing. Our information begins mostly in the 19th century, but we eventually want to develop information from paintings with boys clothing from earllier centuries. We notice most of the styles wore in other European countries like France and Britain. We know more with the advent of photogrphy, although our 19th centuty archive is limited. Italian boys appear to have worn tunic suits in the mid-19th century. We note velvet suits with knicker-length pants. Some boys wore belts over their tunics. Collars and bows were small until the 1870s. Shoes and stockings seem fancier than in Britain and America. Fauntleroy and sailor suits became popular in the late-19th century. We have much more information on the 20th century as photography became widespread. Many boys wore wide-brimmed sailor hats. School children commonly wore smocks, but we are not sure just when that began. We are not sure how common smocks were outside of school. Short pants became common after World War I and were commonly worn by Italian boys through the 1950s. Knee socks and long stockings were not as common in Italy, especially southern Italy, presumably vecause of the climate. Long pants began to become more common in the 1960s.
We have begun to collect some basic information on the various garments worn by Italian boys. Younger Italian boys, like other European and American boys, used to wear dresses. Smocks were commonly worn by Italian boys, especially for schoolwear. They are still worn at some schools. Rompers were also popular in Italy. We believe Little Lord Fauntleroy and other fancy suits were popular in Italy during the late 19th and early 20th Century. Unfortunately at this time I have little real information on the popularity of this style in Italy. One of the most common outfits for Italian boys were sailor suits. I have few details, however, on the particular styles of Italian sailor suits. Based on images of Italian immigrants during the late 19th and early of the 20th Centuries, many of the styles were quite traditional. Italian boys have worn kneepants, long pants, knickers, and short pants. Short pants were very commonly worn by Italian boys through much of the 20th century. Jeans began to appear in Italy during the 1960s, a decade that saw substantial changes in Italian boys clothes. Italy today is renowed for its fashionable knitwear. Italy until recently, however, has been a poor country. Poverty was especially severe in southern Italy. In these areas it was very common for children to go barefoot, even to school.
I have no historical information on historic hair styles for boys in Italy. Available images suggest that long hair was popular for boys in the late 19th and early 20th Centuries. I do not know if it was popular to curl the boys' hair into ringlets as was the case in America or to leave in uncurled as was the case in France. We note an image of a bnoy with ringlet curls, probably from the 1880s, wearing a sailor suit. Our Italian images are too limited at this time to draw any valid conclusions. Some mothers
apparently liked to add hair bows to their sons long hair as was popular in France. I am not sure when a boys long hair was generally cut in Italy. It appears it was usually done after and not before a boy was breeched.
HBC has collected information on a variety of activities in which Italian boys have participated in over time. Many of these activiities involve a wide range of specialized costumes. Other images show trends in German boys' clothing over time. Some of the activities include choir, choir, dance, games, religious observation, school, sport, and many other activities. Italy until after World War II, was the poorest of the major European countries. Given the poverty, especially in southern Italy, many Italian boys had to work often invoved in agricultural labor.
Italy like almost all European countries have very important regional differences. There are, for example, many impotant differences between north and south. Some of these differences reflect the fact that Italy after the fall of Rome was often ruled by a number of small republics and kingdom. Some areas were unfer the control of neighboring countries, including Audtria, France, and Spain. At this time we have very limited information on Italian folk costumes. Hopefull our Italian readers will assist us in this area.
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Here we will follow 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 in 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.
Italy is one of the five major European counties in term of population, nearly 60 million (2022). The Italian population almost doubled in the 20th century. The population growth has been uneven. This has resulted from large scale internal migration from the largely rural South to the industrial cities of the urban North. Italy's North and South developed different for a range of of cultural, geographic, and political reasons. This led to an end of feudalism in the north and its continuation in the south, including Sicily. The country was only unified (1861), before that it was dominated by different policies, including Germans (Austrians in the North, Piedmont, the Papal States, and Two Sicilies in the south. The post World War II Italian Economic Miracle (1950s–1960s) has significantly leveled those differences. In part because of the poverty in the South, there was significant emigration, most spectacularly to America in the late-19th and early-20th century. This emigration has since the 1980s shifted to net immigration, mostly from Africa, especially North Africa. Population density is high, even by European standards. The two major cities are Rome and Naples. Italian cities have features that show their historic roots. Whilr Rome's famed walls today are largely gone, Italy's famed piazzas are continue to be an important part of modern Italian urban life. The most densely populated region is the Po River Valley in the north where nearly half the population lives. Other areas have relatively sparse populations, including the plateaus of Basilicata, the Alps and Apennines highlands, and the island of Sardinia. In the ancient world, Rome was one of the most urbanized societies. With the fall of Rome, Italy became a de-urbanized society. With the the late middle ages and Renaissance we begin to see the growth of cities again. Unification and industrialization began in the mid-19th century and we see a massive trend of urbanization, especially in northern Italy. [Malanima] We have not yet pursued the topic of homes, but after working with images for some time now we have concluded that images showing the grounds, outside of the home, and inside of the home can provide us more valuable information. This can provide information such as demographic and social class factors and how they related to fashion. Many images archived on are studio portraits with no information about the home environment. But in the 20th century we have large numbers of snapshots.
Italy before unification in the 1860s was divided into many different states. We have only begun to develop information on the states, some of which were of considerable historical significance. The modern Vatican was once known as the Papal States and for many years were an important temporal power in central Italy. At this time we only have pages on Naples and Venice.
Italy in the 19th century was one of the pourest countries in Europe. While the industrial revolution began to change northern Italy, economic conditions were still almost feudal in southern Italy and Sicily. The difference between northern and southern Italy was that northern Italy had been goverened by the Austrians (and the French for a brief era during the French Revolution). Southern Italy was ruiled by the Spanisgh Hapsburgs. Poor agragrian practices and the land and climate also affected crop yields in southern Italy. Italian emmigration began in the north. Many of these early immigrants went to neighbiring European countries and to South America, especially Argentina, Brazil, and Uruguay. Later emigration began in even greater numbers from the south. Italians in the second half of the 19th century began a mass exodus to countries with more promising economic opportunites. Southern Italy was almost entirely an agricultural economy, but crop yiels were low an few peasants owned land. The primary destination was the United States. At the same time the United States was expanding west led by rapidly growing railroads. The railroads played an important role in promoting immigration. The railroads received bonuses from the Federal Government in land, but the land had little value unless there was someone to sell it to that would generate cargos. Immigrants mean both customers and workers willing to work for low wages. American companies, like the Union Pacific Railroad sent recruiters to Italy. Other companies like stockyards did as well. They were especially iterested in young males age 14 to 25. Many early Italian emmigrants returned to Italy from America with money and boased of their success, which generated even more emmigration. The Italian Government also promoted emmigration, seeing it as a way of improving economic conditions.
One might think that Italian ethnicity is a fairly simple topic. The many Italian immigrants that came to the United States were seen simply as Italians and identifiable with some common facial characteristics, this was in part because most Italian immigrant to America came mostly from southern Italy and Sicily. And once in America they tended to group together because f language and religion. Back home in Italy the ethnic picture was much more complicated. This is somewhat surprising because Italy is cut off from the rest of Europe by by the towering Alps. And you might have thought that the Italians would have developed a more distinctive ethnic identity than most other European countries. Modern Italian ethnicity has been formed by many different cultures and peoples over time. The primary native population was thought to have been formed by Etruscans, Rhaetians, Ligurians, Adriatic Veneti, and Italic peoples, including the Latins (Romans). Notice that the Romans were only a small part of this ethnic stew. And each of the these groups were regionally based. The Roman Empire brought people from all over the Mediterranean into Italy. We are not sure about he ethnic impact. Modern DNA studies have taken us further back in time to people who left little or identifiable archeological trace. This includes mesolithic western hunter-gatherers, neolithic Early European farmers, bronze age steppe pastoralists, and Chalcolithic or bronze age Iranian/Caucasus-related peoples. The imprint of some of these groups has survived the passage of time best on someone of the Italian islands. Etruscan on Corsica (now French). Nurasgic and Punic on Sardinia). Greek on Sicily. In southern Italy, the Italians most familiar to Americans, the important influences were Oscan, Messapic, and Greek. Notable ancient foreign influences include: Phoenicians (Punic), Greek, Celts, Germans, and Slavs. Modern immigrant groups include: Romanians, Africans and Arabs, Albanians, Asians, and Ukrainians. These groups can be called minorities. We do not have a great deal of information on minority groups in Italy. There was a substantial Jewish minority as well as a small Gypsy population. There was also a small Austrian (German-speaking) population in the north a result of the Italian acquisition of the South Tirol as a result of the World War I Peace settlement.
We do not yet have much information omn the Italian photography industry. We hve found very few Itakian 19th century images, but quite a nymbr beginning at the turn-of-the 20th century. An Italian reader tells us that Fratelli Alinari (Alinari Bros) is the oldest Italian photographic company. It was founded in Florence by Leopoldo (1832-1865), Giuseppe (1836-90) and Romualdo Alinari (1830-1890) durng 1852. Leopoldo's son Vittorio (1859-1932) took over the firm (1892). He was especially interested in documentary photography. Now the photographic archives of the Fratelli Alinari has more then 4 million images. Here we have a photograph Vittorio about 1910.
The popularity in Europe of using childrens as he subjects of postcards in the early 20th century provide us with interesting images. We have very limited information on Italian postcards at this time. We
do know that they did exist. We have seen Itlaian post cards with both Itlaian themes and cards made for export markets. We believe that Italy must have had a very large postcard industry, but have few details at this time.
Stereotypes gradually settled on all the major European countries. These represent how the Europeans looked on each other. Some of these stereotypes were not very flattering. As with most sterotypes, there was often an element of truth in these images, not matter how unfair or rude. These stereotypes emerged in private conversation and litwrature. One way they were illustrated were in postcards swhich began to become popular in the late 19th century, in part because of developments in photography and lithography. . An Italian reader writes, "
In Italy during last decades of 19th century some photographers created images showing stereotypical popular scenes. The photographs were made into post cards and proved popular. mostly with foreign tourists."
W e have learned a great deal about clothing fashion trends in several countries through an exmination of catalogs and advertisements. This information can be quite useful because it is dated and has information on sizes/ages as well as materials, colors and other pertinant details. Unfortunately, HBC has not yet been able to obtain many copies of Italian catalogs and fashion magazines.
We do not know of many boy characters in Italian literature, but there are a few. The one Itlalian classic we know of is of course The Adventures of Pinocchio: The Story of a Puppet. It is surely the best known Italian novel for children. The author is Carlo Collodi (pseudonym of Carlo Lorenzini). He was born in Florence in 1826 and died there in 1890. Pinocchio was published in Florence (1883). Here we have a picture from the first edition by Enrico Mazzanti. In the Tuscan dialect, pinocchio is the term used to refer to the pine nut. The novel as most children know is the story of a puppet that becomes a child. Another children's book very popular in Italy is Cuore (Heart) by Edmondo De Amicis (1846-1908). "Heart" (1888) is the story of a 3rd grade primary school class from the first to the last school day. The novel is written as the diary of a pupil (Enrico Bottini). In the novel we have also nine little stories that the teacher (Mr. Perboni) tells to the pupils. Perhaps the best known of these stories is "From the Apennines to the Andes". It is the story of Marco who travels from Genoa to Argentina looking for his mother. (Many Itaklians un the late-19th and early-20th centuries emigrated to Argentina.) A Japanese cartoon (52 installments) was inspired by this story (1976).
Theatrical plays date back to ancuent times. Much of this is basiclly lost. There must have been some form of theater non-written theater if inly in story telling. That for ecmple was the oirigin oif Homer's works. So the thratrical tradions of many ancient socities were lost. What was not lost, at least not entirekly, was the theatrical tradition of the classical world. Drama is as an especially important Greek tradition. Drama was also an important art form in ancient Rome. Drama was both an art form and like the gladatorial contsts, a public spectacle. Thus they were performed in huge ampitheaters. Rome had a nunber of large theaters. The challenge of sound and lighting faced by the Greeks was handled in the same way--outdoor ampitheaters. Rome itself had several large ampitheaters especially designed to perform plays. The best surving example is the theatre Marcellus. Unlike Greece, drama was not an indegenous Roman art form. The Roman drama of Seneca (for tragedy) and of Plautus and Terence (for comedy) derived ultimately (with many changes of course) from the drama of Greece. This traditiion was basically lost during with the Germanic invasions, but of course the written record was lost. Many works survived in Byzantium. A trafition of of theatricals feveloped with medieval baladeer. There was aldo the ‘theater’ of preachers, giullari, storytellers, jugglers and tumblers. They were unlikely infuenced by the classical tradition, but Dante Alighieri (1265-1321) was . And drama is intrinically influenced by poetry and literature. The dicerie sappears to be the beginning of Italian medieval drama. It was a monologue presenred by a performer. The Renaissance began in Italy, by dreama was not a major parytof i in Itgaly as it was in othe contriues. One of the best known- plays was 'Mandragola' written by Niccolo Machiavelli (1524). The giants of Reniasance drama were all in other countries. This is rather surprising, especially because the Commedia dell'arte was a major Italiasn contribution to European drama. It has survived in the modern world in Punch and Judy puppet shows. While Italy may have lagged in the area of drama, it was a leader in the developmnt of opera (17th century). It was born in Italy during the Renaissance, a mix of vocal and orchestral music, drama, visual arts and dance. It has been been inspiring Europeans ever sibnce. Many of the giants of opera are Italian: Monyteverdi (1567-1643) Rossini (1792-1868), Donizetti (1797-1848), Bellini (1801-1835), Verdi (1813-1901), Puccini (1858-1924), Mascagni (1863–1945). HBC at this time has little information on the Italian film industry. This is of course is a major failing as Italy has a very important film industry and has made many beautiful films. It was Itlalian neo-realism after World War II that dramatically changed how Hollywood films were made. We have collected some information on a few Italian films, but are sure that there are many more interesting films. Italian clothes styles are nicely shown during the 1940s in The Garden of the Finzi-Continis (Italy/Germany, 1970?). Other important films are Padre Perdone and Life is Beautiful (Italy, 1998). I also liked an American film about Italy, It Started in Naples (US, 1960). We know nothing about Italiamn radio and teledvision.
We have unfortunately been unable so far to obtain many personal experiences about Italian boys. For some reason realtively few Italians webgoers seem to visit our HBC site, I am not sure why. I think language is the main problem. Hopefully Italian readers will eventually provide some information on their experiences. What we have so far is images and information about Italian immigrants in America and American visitors to Italy. These are interesting, but of course not the same as asctual Italian accounts. The personal experiences concerning Italian boys clothes we have collected include:
1912: Calvo brothers: Italian immigrants in America
1925: American brother and sister: Italian immigrants in America
1950s: American boy: American Air Force family in Italy
1960s: American boy: Visit to Italy
Malanima, Palolo. "Urbanisation and the Italian economy during the last millennium," European Review of Economic History
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