Preserved Ancient Walser Alpine Village: Otro, Italy

The Walsers descended from Germanic peoples over 1000 years ago and settled throughout the Alps.   They usually settled in remote, higher-altitude valleys (above 1500 m), particularly in the region around Monte Rosa, a major mountain massif on the Swiss-Italian border east of the Matterhorn. In return for maintaining and harvesting inhospitable Alpine lands, the Walsers were typically accorded a relative degree of freedom and were able to form communities with a high degree of sovereignty. As a result, they preserved their ancient German culture, traditions, and language.

The villagers of the isolated Walser communities had to work hard to survive the harsh Alpine weather and long, snowy winters.  They had to clear timber, till the rocky soil, shape the land into meadows and fields, build houses, and produce everything necessary to feed their families and animals during the long winters.  The difficulties in transport and their isolation made them fiercely independent and proud.  Among their cultural characteristics are their farm houses.

(The two paragraphs above are paraphrased from Sharp, H.  2007.  Tour of Monte Rosa, A Trekking Guide.  Cicerone Press, Cumbria, UK, 166p.)

This is Alpe Planmisura at altitude 1782 m in the Valle d"Otro.  It is a steep 1000 m drop from the Col d'Olen at 2881 m (you need strong knees).  This little town featured stone architecture and is still partly occupied in the summer.

One of the better preserved examples of a Walser village is Otro Dorf at 1640 m, also in the Valle d'Otro

In Otro, the houses have characteristic Walser wood and stone construction, with wide porches and broad roof overhang.  The porches were used to store wood and hay and protect them from rain and snow. Consider, until the late 1800s, these villagers were probably almost totally cut off from lower-altitude valleys and had to be self-reliant. Preserving wood and grain made the difference between staying warm and the cattle surviving long, harsh winters.  Also, winters were longer and colder in the 1800s, as Europe slowly emerged from the little ice age.

The wood was worked with hand tools and fitted with very few nails or machine-made fasteners.

At least, pure cold water was plentiful.  Washing clothing by hand in a stone tub was hard work.

After a long day hiking, the Refugio d'Otro offers a tempting place to stop for the night or eat a weekend luncheon feast, as these 50+ trekkers can attest.  Home-made pasta, wine, garden-fresh vegetables, more wine, espresso, pastry - hard to keep trekking after this.

Finally, another architectural note.  This is an example of Walser construction in Zermatt (the sophisticated tourist resort).  The wide circular slab of stone was supposed to dissuade vermin from climbing up the support posts and eating the grain stored within.  I am not sure how effective this technique was, but you see granaries and huts throughout the high Alps with these circular stones on the foundation.

Hiking note:  the Tour of Monte Rosa is one of the grand Alpine treks with spectacular scenery and the opportunity to cross glaciers and many passes. Most people start and end in Zermatt, making a 10-12-day circular route.  Highly recommended!  All photographs taken with a Fuji F31fd digital camera.

References

Sharp, H. 2007.  Tour of Monte Rosa, a Trekking Guide.  Cicerone Press, Milnhorpe Cumbria, UK, 166p.

Historic Houses, Ano Trikala, Peloponnese, Greece

Drive about three hours west of Athens into the northern mountains of the Peloponnese, and you reach a cluster of historic villages on the north slopes of Kyllini (click for the Google map link). At an altitude of about 1100 m (3600 ft) they are cool even in summer and snowy in winter. The area is famed for cherries and olives. Built on the ruins of the ancient Miseo, the villages consist of Kato (Down), Mesaia (Middle) and Ano (Up) Trikala, but really merge into one community now.

Trikala has been occupied for a long time. You can see semi-ruined stone houses throughout the town, many of which may date from the late-1800s or early 1900s. They typically were built of stone walls and wood roof joists, so even after the roof rots and fails, the walls will remain for decades or centuries.

A few notes on rural depopulation: Until the early 1960s, Greece had a largely agrarian economy. Many villagers lived an almost self-contained existence, growing their own produce, and selling some products, such as olive oil, in coastal cities. Because of bad roads, a trip to the coast from an interior village was a long and tiring effort. Starting in the 1960s, Greece experienced an economic boom, and with it came better roads and education. Children were educated and moved to the city. Urban life was easier, more exciting, and more cosmopolitan. Many only occasionally returned to their original homes to see their parents and grandparents, and slowly, many interior villages depopulated. By now, two generations have lived in the city, and many of these city dwellers have no interest in the backbreaking work and comparative loneliness of a mountain village (Where are the nightclubs, the shops, the music scene?). A moving and personal description of the gulf between urban and rural residents is described in The Olive Grove: Travels in Greece, by Katherine Kizilos, an Australian journalist of Greek descent (Paperback: 260 pages; Publisher: Lonely Planet Publications (September 1997); Language: English; ISBN-10: 0864424590).

Some older houses have been restored and are occupied, such as this handsome house with a carved doorway.

The prosperity of the late-1990s and early 2000s brought tourism to some towns, especially ones like Trikala with spectacular settings and great views. The developers moved in and overbuilt vacation bungalows and apartments. Just as in the USA, many are now bankrupt, and their apartments stand empty. With the ongoing financial crisis, few Greeks are buying property now. The eternal dream is that rich Germans or Americans will come to Greece, buy property, and spend money. Vacation bungalow anyone?

(All photographs taken with a Fuji F31fd digital camera. This time I violated my normal tripod rule on architecture and hand-held the camera.)