Italian Society in the 19th-Century

Society was divided by class:
* Aristocrats - the smallest class which consisted of land barons and titled families.  They primarily lived in large cities.
* Middle Class - consisted of the educated (lawyers, notaries etc.) and merchants.  They were usually referred to by a title of respect:  don (sir), signore (mister) or maestro (master).
* Contadini (the peasants) which consisted of laborers and farmers.

Education was available to everyone, if you could afford to send your children to school and for some the children were needed to work to help support the family, many times as early as 5 or 6 years old.

Some contadini were poor landowners and their plot of land was only large enough to support one family and only the first son would be able to inherit the land.  And only a small dowry was afforded to the first daughter.  Due to this, generally it was only the first male and first female to marry.  The rest of the children often remained unmarried, resulting in many unwanted pregancies and abandoned foundlings.

Marriages were often arranged, even among the poor and sometimes as the children were still babies.  Parents had to approve of the marriages and love was not as important as convenience.  During emigrations from Italy to North and South America, daughters were usually shipped off to marry another who had established himself in the new land.

Generally their home was one room made of stone, brick or mud with no running water or drainage.  This tiny abode housed large extended families and sometimes chickens, goats or other animals.  Due to crowding and lack of privacy, the streets and piazzas was where everything took place. 

The contadini were not necessarily religious but they went to church out of fear, supersitition and obligation.  Each town had a patron saint, whose feast day was celebrated annually with the hope that the saint would protect the town throughout the coming year.

Nelson, Lynn (1997). A genealogist's guide to discovering your Italian ancestors: how to find and record your unique heritage. Cincinnati, OH: Betterway Books.