Italian Daily Life
A look at the traditional lifestyles, cuisine, clothing, and housing of the Italian Peninsula.
Historic Lifestyles of Italy
Daily life on the Italian Peninsula historically revolved around agriculture and urban trades. The common people of Ancient Roman visited public baths, backed their favorite sports teams, and picked up fast foods from street vendors. They worked as shopkeepers, servants, and craftsmen, if they weren’t slaves. The lives of one Roman town, Pompeii, were famously frozen in time by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 CE. Its buildings preserved in ash reveal a vibrant community busy with local business, politics, and salacious gossip.
Italy’s strong urban tradition in the north and central regions is balanced by more rural areas in the south. Another strong agricultural area lies in the northern Po River Valley. The differences between rural and city living grew more pronounced over time. While the north grew affluent on foreign trade, the south has often struggled with poverty and a lack of opportunities. This prompted a large diaspora in the 19th and 20th centuries, spreading Italian cultures to many parts of the world.
Traditional Italian Cuisine
Italy’s position on the Mediterranean Sea has ensured a strong agrarian tradition since Roman times. Olive trees provided abundant oil, while farmers raised grain crops, grapes for wine, and a variety of supplemental crops like legumes, artichokes, cabbages, leeks, cucumbers, and herbs. For the common people, breads, porridge, wine, and olive oil were the staples of life. They sometimes added a type of fermented fish paste, or garum, to their meals for flavor. These goods had the added benefit of preserving well, meaning they could be shipped across the empire without spoiling.
The upper classes, meanwhile, liked to throw lavish dinner parties. Their meals were served on low tables surrounded by reclining sofas, or a triclinium. Roman delicacies included wild boar, eels, pheasant, cheeses, lamb, goat, pork, pastas, seafoods, and oxtail stew, among other dishes.
As Italy’s city-states drifted apart and developed their own cultures, their cuisine evolved as well. Each region possessed its own styles of noodles, cheeses, wines, sausages, stews, and seafoods. The arrival of New World foods in the 16th and 17th centuries transformed Italian cuisine further. Imports like the tomato and bell peppers soon became staple foods, along with potatoes and corn. These new ingredients merged with existing dishes to form modern Italian cuisine. Some of these dishes came with immigrants to the Americas, including pizza and spaghetti. Pizza, originally from Naples, stems from Roman flatbreads and focaccia. Spaghetti is thought to have come from Sicily, possibly influenced by earlier Berber conquests.
Historic Housing Styles of Italy
The common people of Rome generally lived in urban apartments, or insulae, over ground-floor businesses and workshops. These apartment complexes could be several stories high, allowing efficient urban spacing. Only the wealthy owned their own land and houses. A typical townhouse, or domus, featured elaborate architecture and a columned facade. In the country, large agrarian estates could be similarly ornamented. The focal point of these homes was the atrium, an open courtyard for entertaining visitors. This space opened into dining rooms, bedrooms, work areas, and small workshops.
Urban apartments remained popular in the city-states of Italy. Rural homes, meanwhile, diversified into small farmhouses. Perhaps the most well known surviving peasant homes are the trulli of Apalia. These stone houses feature thick walls and conical stone roofs. A more typical peasant house in northern areas might have whitewashed walls and a thatched roof. Some were multi-story, with livestock and work areas in the lower floor. Country estates, or villas, are descended from the ancient equestrian estates of Rome. They are famous for their careful landscaping, water features, masonry, and tiled roofs.
Fashion in Italian Culture
Italy is well known for its fashion, and clothing has always been an important status symbol in its culture. In Ancient Rome, the clothing a person wore could be instantly read to determine his or her place in society. The toga, for example, was reserved upper class male citizens. This long woollen wrap was carefully arranged over a man’s tunic. The colors and embellishments used denoted his position, though most wore plain white fabrics. For the lower classes or everyday wear, a simple tunic sufficed for both men and women. Men’s tunics were shorter and, if necessary, covered by a cloak. Women preferred longer tunics or dresses under a palla mantle or stola cloak. Most textiles were made from wool or linen, with silks imported for the wealthy.
From the medieval era on, fashions in Italy diversified beyond brief description. Each city-state developed its own trends, and within each culture there were thousands of individual variations. As a general rule, men continued to wear tunics over hose or tights and women dresses with veils or mantles. Fashion at this time emphasized luxury, with the prominent display of furs, jewelry, vibrant colors, velvets, silks, and ribbons. Men of means invested in elaborate coats or tunics with slashed sleeves, revealing colorful silks beneath. Italian styles spread with the Renaissance and could soon be found in royal courts throughout Europe.
Lifestyles of Modern Italy
Today, life in Italy is a blend of ancient architecture, old customs, and modern amenities. Fine cuisine, fashions, and the peninsula’s long history remain important on both a personal and commercial level in many areas. Regional differences continue to influence career opportunities as well as tastes in food, apparel, and housing. About 70 percent of the population lives in urban centers, particularly those in the north.
References
Aldrete, Gregory S. Daily Life in the Roman City: Rome, Pompeii and Ostia. Greenwood Publishing. 2004.
Crawford, Michael Hewson. The Roman Republic. Harvard University Press. 1993.
Duggan, Christopher. A Concise History of Italy. Cambridge University Press. 2014.
Jones, Philip. The Italian City-State: From Commune to Signoria. Oxford University Press. 1997.
Kelly, Christopher. The Roman Empire: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford University Press. 2006.
Killinger, Charles. Culture and Customs of Italy. Greenwood Publishing. 2005.
“The World Factbook: Italy.” Central Intelligence Agency, Central Intelligence Agency, 12 July 2018, www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/it.html.
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