Читать книгу Through the Italian Alps. The GTA - The Grande Traversata delle Alpi онлайн

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Visitors with an interest in rural architecture will be intrigued by the variety of buildings. Rudimentary shelters make the most of sloping land, natural rock overhangs and huge fallen boulders, natural anti-avalanche barriers. A balma is a simple type, a cave at best with a low protective wall of loose stones; the shepherds’ summertime residence or gias continues to be the most widespread. From the Latin iacere (to rest), it ranges from a lean-to overlaid with branches and corrugated sheeting to a more comfortable stone hut.

Substantial village settlements are generally composed of slender multi-storeyed dwellings sporting narrow jutting balconies, with ground-floor accommodation for chickens and cows. In southwestern Piedmont the roofing more often than not is rusty corrugated sheeting lashed down with branches and wire. The traditional system, sadly all but disappeared, employed straw thatching using locally grown cereals such as rye. Low cost (if rather high maintenance) the dried grass was, however, especially vulnerable when marauding invaders lit blazes. Few here had access to – or could afford – longer-lasting material such as ardesia slate stone, known as lose or piode, widespread in the valleys further north. In the districts with copious quarries, its use dates back to the 1400s. Skilled craftsmen are required to cut and lay the hefty slabs in artistic overlapping scales. Valle Bellino di Varaita, Valle d’Aosta and Valsesia are justifiably proud of their graceful constructions in local stone.