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Wood-working crafts

introduction

Woodland covers all the slopes from 500m up to the summits (approximately 1500m), and the varying altitudes have favoured the growth of various kinds of trees which can be used in different ways. The hill areas are populated mainly by broad-leafed trees: manna-ash, maple, chestnut, oak, hazel, etc. Higher up, from 800m upwards, there are beech, but also silver fir and Austrian pine, which have recently been introduced in wood planting projects. Lower down, the most familiar tree is the cypress, which for centuries has been chosen as a reference point to indicate a country parish church, a chapel, the entrance to a villa, or the route of a track along the ridge of a hill.

The wood craftsmen drew their primary material from the wood of these trees - chestnut, walnut, cherry, maple, elm, olive, but also fir, pine, etc., - and their expert hands transformed it into diverse forms.

Translated by Jeremy Carden
Picture by Kee-Ho Casati


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