The Pagliare

A precious evidence of the past local rural and animal rearing traditions

The "Pagliare" are charming mountain villages deserving a visit.

Situated between the mountain chain of Sirente and the deep Aterno Middle Valley, at an altitude of 1,000-1,100m above sea level, in correspondence with the villages of Fagnano, Fontecchio and Tione degli Abruzzi, these simple villages were the place of seasonal migration typical of vertical transhumance.

In these rural settlements of altitude, without external fortification, from spring to autumn, breeders and farmers of the countries downstream (600m above sea level), went to transmigrate, finding in cultivable lands and high pastures a primary source of livelihood.

The Pagliare appear as characteristic houses in limestone, probably derived from the process of stoning land in order to make farmland. All the houses were equipped with underground cisterns to collect rainwater, which had to supply the water shortage of the place.

The Pagliare villages can be reached by mule tracks which climb over rocky ridges along serpentine bends, or through the district of Terranera of Rocca di Mezzo. A fascinating natural trail scattered with oak, beech and black hornbeam forests mixed with other shrub essences like laburnum, and animated by the sudden noise of wild animals or reminders of some predator.