The dry stone walls: identifying elements of the Apulian landscape
We are talking about dry architecture and, in particular, that of dry stone walls. Watch the video I produced that introduces the topic and then read the article.
The dry stone walls: identifying elements of the Apulian landscape
In 2018, UNESCO inscribed “The Art of Dry Stone Walls” in the list of intangible elements declared a World Heritage Site as they represent “a harmonious relationship between man and nature”.
An apparently simple art based on the creation of structures made of stones arranged one on top of the other without the use of binders other than dry earth.
The construction techniques vary from area to area and have been preserved for millennia within rural communities to then be handed down to the craftsmen of the building sector.
In Puglia the structures with dry stone walls were used as shelters for agriculture or for breeding livestock (e.g. iazzi) but also for terracing or retaining walls.
We find walls with multiple shapes, regular or irregular, with suggestive colors, with the most varied uses.
Often the stone materials were not used for their entire thickness but depending on the function and size they had a sort of “inner bag” made of smaller stones and soil which was then compacted by a final layer of flatter stones literally crushed on top.
The size of the stones depended on availability: the white stones, of a calcareous nature, were easier to scratch and therefore used to obtain smaller ones, while the darker ones were harder and were used as they were even when of gigantic dimensions.
The main use of these walls was to delimit individual properties, funds or country roads, our sheep tracks but they could also assume the function of retaining walls to delimit areas at a higher altitude than the road or even they were used to limit terracing, especially in hilly areas.
The simple architecture of the walls has also inspired other artifacts such as “i caseddi” and “pagghiari” always built with the use of dry stones.
These are rudimentary forms of rustic-looking trulli used as a deposit for straw and agricultural tools but also as a shelter for farmers
These constructions, together with the variants of dry stone walls, are part of the rural cultural heritage of Puglia and still today there are workers who build these artifacts with extreme professionalism so that the tradition of their executive technique is not lost.