Description

Tezze Valley, Mount of Puro and Collezzano until Casali Belvedere form an almost uninterrupted block of thick and lush oak forests, still well-preserved with abundant undergrowth of hazel and dogwood. Shrikes, thrushes, quails, partridges, hares inhabit this optimal environment; the long-tailed magpie, colorful corvids, white, black and iridescent, finds here one of its few habitats in this area. By night, during the appropriate season, the boar comes down from the surrounding forested massifs, looking for pastures in Maltignano plain.

A little curiosity: the presence of oak trees so prevalent in the area of Cascia and of the whole Valnerina is linked to the ancient practice of charcoal. The coal was product by burning piles of branches and parts of the trunk covered with earth and leaves (the so called  “Ginestra of Carbonari” derives its name from this practice). Some channels were left in the pile, some with a radial pattern at the base and only one vertical in the center. Coal production started by lighting the pile at the bottom or by dropping some burning embers from the top. Combustion lasted from two to four weeks, depending on the pile size and could be adjusted by limiting the access of air through the channels. When the pile made a clear smoke, people occluded all the openings in order to extinguish fire. The pile took five or six days to cool down. Then, after the earth had been removed, people picked up coal, separating the good one from the badly baked coal. The yield was about 25%. Real migrations of communities from Tuscany, Veneto and Marche, living in hut of branches into the woods for the occasion, occurred in the whole Valnerina, including Cascia`s and Norcia`s areas, subjected to intensive felling. The thick network of places where coal was made (the “Carbonare”) is still identified in small artificial plateaus in the undergrowth, hub of many paths.