Traditional Sicilian Rural Houses
A Sicilian farmer’s house was often extremely small. A typical interior might contain a narrow doorway, a few chairs, two beds, an oven, several chickens, and even fertilizer stored in a corner. Where a second level existed, it was usually little more than an attic reached by a wooden ladder, sometimes containing only a bed of hay. Roofs and ceilings could be irregular, allowing light, rain, and wind to enter, and sanitary conditions were often poor.
Field laborers who could not return each day to distant villages sometimes lived in rudimentary shelters known as “pagghiara.” These structures could also accommodate entire families. A “pagghiaru” was generally built from brick and wooden poles arranged in a circular frame and rising toward the center, with a roof of hay and twigs. Contemporary descriptions portray some of these shelters as only about one meter high and roughly 40–50 square feet in area. Beds were placed along the sides, with a fireplace near the center and a cooking pot suspended from a pole above it. The doorway was so low that people often had to bend to enter. Although such a shelter was not intended for more than six occupants, larger households could be crowded inside.
More conventional houses were lit with oil lanterns. In the poorest rural homes, a traditional wall lamp known as the “lumera” was used instead. These lamps were usually made of iron and fueled with olive oil.
A rough wooden table was often placed outside the doorway, where family members could eat breakfast, drink, and talk. The kitchen occupied a small section of the house and might consist of a low plaster or gypsum hearth supported by two or three large stones. A large terracotta pot was placed over the fire and used to prepare the evening meal.
Despite the limited space and the frequent presence of animals inside or near the home, women devoted considerable effort to keeping the house clean and orderly. Lorenzoni observed that “women would be ashamed if the floor, even when made of earth, were not clean.” Saturday was traditionally associated with thorough housekeeping: floors were washed, dishes cleaned, and tables polished. A local expression summarized the routine:
Fari sabbato — to do Saturday’s cleaning.
Walls were commonly whitewashed for village feast days and other important occasions. Images of the Virgin Mary, crucifixes, and other religious figures were placed on the walls and above beds as signs of faith and as sources of protection for the household.
