contadino

Contadino comes from contado, the countryside around a town, and first meant a person living there. In records it means someone who works the land, either his own or another's, and old word lists translate it as farm laborer or peasant.

The word does not tell you whether the family owned land. Compare bracciale or bracciante, a hired laborer, massaro, who managed a farm, and possidente, a property owner. Colono and coltivatore also mean farmer.