ABSTRACT
This chapter deals with the experience of living in the lower orders homes, using Venetian Renaissance artisans as a case study. The efforts to achieve comfort in a situation of limited resources will be seen in the light of the challenges in the production of heat and the strategies devised to preserve warmth in the domestic context. The chapter deals with the social and economic milieu of the artisanal group to establish the means they could deploy to achieve comfort in their living conditions in a context of limited resources. It analyses energy and heat production, considering its use and the technologies available in the homes of the people, highlighting the differences from the possibilities available to the higher social groups. Then the chapter addresses the strategies and technologies for preserving warmth, both in the home and on the body, analysing home textiles and clothing.
