The "sostre" and rural life in the Intelvi Valley.

Sostra Pian delle Alpi, on the mountain to the left San Zeno

Alpine pasture

In summer the herds were driven to the mountain pasture available to each village in the Valley. And it was at night, during summer thunderstorms and in the heatwave hours that they took refuge in the "sostre," the old low stone stables consisting of three walls and roof. The specimens we still find today are in Alpe Grande and Alpe Squadrina on the road to Monte Generoso and at Pian delle Alpi in Cerano d'Intelvi. The young men who provided care for the grazing cows were known as "famèll," the stable workers, who often remained for entire periods alone in the mountains. They were accompanied by the "cascen" who led the flocks and with their hissing whistles rounded up sheep and goats, guiding them in their movements. At night these boys would descend into the valley, turning into "spalloni," or smugglers to the Swiss border. The beasts with their shepherds would return to the village at the first cold spells, where daily, they were accompanied in procession to the communal fountain for watering.

Small room collecting the tools of Intelvese handicrafts

Life in the valley

Of course, agriculture was not the only activity practiced. Many aspects of past times can be grasped by visiting the Ethnographic Museum of Peasant Civilization, Arts and Crafts in Casasco d'Intelvi, where many objects belonging to the daily life of families are collected, as well as work tools. Indeed, precisely because not all trades lend themselves to being represented in the halls of a museum, some evidence can also be found outside. This is the case, for example, of the "carbunàtt," the coal worker who produced charcoal using wood from beech forests. The charcoal kiln (the piuatt) was in the shape of an inverted funnel from the top of which the inner stove was fed for 40 days, tended day and night. The fire burned wood covered by a layer of earth and had to be as slow as possible to exhaust all the oxygen and turn the wood into charcoal. To control it, the charcoal burner would pick up signals such as the color of the smoke and the temperature of the earth covering the charcoal pile; to regulate the temperature, holes were drilled in it (the pipei) for the fire to breathe.

Along the path of the widespread museum: the charcoal burner's square

History is learned by traveling

There are so many memories linked to this valley, and to recount them all would really take too long, but there is a solution: comfortable shoes and backpacking, to walk the paths that connect the villages of Centro Valle Intelvi,, keeping your eyes open to catch a glimpse of the sostre, the charcoal kilns, the chestnut groves... seemingly simple elements, certainly humble, and yet that have had so much influence on local history!