1 FRAMEWORK

The use of dry stone is one of the oldest techniques for transforming land by using available resources. This ancient building technique is widespread throughout the world, wherever stone is plentiful. Dry stone works (terraces, roads, walls, small build-ings) have shaped many valuable agricultural and livestock farming landscapes. Fully adapted to the soils and climate; they have always been developed in a direct relationship with the environment and its natural resources, as well as with the socio-economic and historical context.

At a national level, the need to preserve this her-itage was recently formalized by institutional agen-cies within the Code of the Cultural and Landscape Heritage (2004). "Historic rural and ethno-anthropological architecture that are evidence of a traditional rural economy" have been recognized as a cultural heritage, while their preservation is the goal of the new political landscape rules inaugurated by the European Landscape Convention (2004).

In Sicily dry stone are in an increasing stage of neglect, due to changes in land use, socio-economic development, and cultural building conditions. Pre-serving existing dry stone artifacts and improving the use of this technique in new construction is im-portant not only to keep alive an intangible heritage link to local identity, but also to provide sustainable solutions to old problems such as hydro-geological defense. The appreciation by domestic and foreign tourists of the immaterial dimension and of the aes-thetic factors of local identity and features could also

lead to an increasing demand of decentralization on the use of the territory.

2 BACKGROUND

Attention to the issue presented below stems from the participation of the University of Palermo to the Grundtvig project (Lifelong Learning Programme, Grundtvig Learning Partnership for 2008-2010. Prog. No. 2008-1-FR1 -GRU06-00276-9) on “La préservation du patrimoine architectural bâti en pierre séche”, coordinated by arch. prof. Renata Pre-scia of the Architecture Department.

Local governments, associations, and universities from different regions of the Mediterranean area (Corsica, Portugal, Balearic Islands, Cornwall, Pro-vence, Scotland, Cyclades islands and Sicily) took part in the program to share innovations and good practices in the administering of dry stone wall train-ing by holding European meetings and practical workshops. The Grundtving project results have been articulated in several actions: - a glossary comparing dry stone artifacts (walls, fountains and roads) among various regions; - a web site updated with newsletters relating to the workshops held; - a comparative report on the professional qualifica-tion system, which revealed that the professionalism of "Maitre en pierres sèches" (teacher specializing in dry-stone) is recognized in the Balearic Islands, in England and in Provence, while there is no similar qualifications in other countries.

Dry stone buildings in Sicily. An environmental and territorial resource Letizia Dipasquale University of Florence, INN-LINKS Research Center

Valeria Megna, Renata Prescia University of Palermo, Department of Architecture

ABSTRACT: Dry stone constructions are widespread throughout many regions across the world, in a wide variety of forms, according to the environmental and socio-economic contexts, and constitute a valuable know-how which is today in danger of disappearing. In Sicily dry stone works have traditionally been used in the area of Val di Noto where they constitute a key character of the landscape, and in the Madonie Mounts in which some policies of enhancement have been recently initiated. In the framework of the Grundtvig pro-gramme “La préservation du patrimoine architectural bâti en pierre sèche”, an in-depth analysis of these ar-chitectures have been pursued, aiming to create a database inventory. This paper illustrates the peculiar fea-tures of dry stone heritage in Sicily, as an environmental and territorial resource.

Therefore, the project recognized the need to support the dry stone construction rural craft which is threatened by the lack of training opportunities leading to the loss of traditional skills.

3 RESEARCH METHODS AND OBJECTIVES

Starting from the Grundtvig experience, the topic of dry stone construction in Sicily has been developed through the investigation of this traditional tech-nique in two specific areas: the Val di Noto, in south-eastern Sicily and the Madonie mounts area, in the north-western Sicily. The first case study rep-resents an area where dry stone heritage is wide-spread and constitutes a fundamental character of the landscape. The second one is a protected natural area in which dry stone use is less culturally representa-tive as it is more linked to practical needs relating to local economic activities. Here policies about pro-tection, restoration, and enhancement of the tangible and intangible heritage have been initiated only re-cently.

The research was conducted through the follow-ing steps: - An initial review of literature sources related to the topic, and a study of unpublished texts available from public research centers and private researchers. - A classification of dry stone works, according to three main categories, corresponding to a multitude of variants, based on the specific function per-formed: archaeological sites, walls, buildings, and other elements of the farm space - Interviews carried out with masons and farmers, and direct visits to dry stone rebuilding work sites in order to expand from academic explanations into empirical knowledge; - A search of the field, aimed at direct analysis of dry stone works, carried out through graphic and photographic surveys and the formation of a data-sheet in which were recorded location, approximate date of building, morphology of the artifact, tradi-tional and current use, building technique, and state of preservation.

The overall objective of the research in dry stone work in Sicily is in contributing to an integrated un-derstanding, conservation, and enhancement plan, along with the following action lines: - systematization of knowledge about dry stone technique in Sicily, which is necessary to share a re-gional Glossary and a database on the subject, as well as to achieve a restoration Manual; - conservation actions carried out through the expe-rience of training courses aiming to grant skills re-quired to build and/or repair masonry structures in dry stone and aiming to stimulate local and regional administrations to establish the conditions for train-ing actions and/or entrepreneurial initiatives for leg-acies conservation and management;

- enhancement initiatives carried out through struc-tured cultural and natural tours, based on mentioned surveys and interpretation research

4 DRY STONE BUILDINGS IN HYBLAEAN AREA

The south-east of Sicily (the area called “Val di No-to”, in the Hyblaean mountains) is characterized by a very strong presence of outcropping limestone. The need to clear the ground for cultivation, and to ar-range the overabundant stones has given rise to a rational and orderly use of stone that provides a ‘skeleton’ to the landscape: giving it form, coher-ence, structure and distinction (Fig. 1).

Figure 1: Dry stone walls landscape in South-East of Sicily. Credits: L. Dipasquale.

The use of dry stone in Hyblaean has been docu-

mented since prehistoric times. Huge blocks were installed directly onto the outcropping rocks. In Byzantine times the limestone plateau of this area was occupied by a dense network of rural settle-ments characterized by massive dry walls and tiled roofs (Messina & Distefano, 1987). The practice of fencing the plots with dry stone walls begins at the end of the Middle Ages, with the right to grant lands by the feudal estates, but the phenomenon becomes relevant only from the mid-sixteenth century, fol-lowing the requirement laid down by the Spanish government for clear boundaries between properties. The presence of estates separated by enclosure of dry stone walls promoted crop improvement and ini-tiated the process of land transformation of the coun-tryside, whose connoting element is the manor farm, locally called “masseria”.

The manor farm is a typical agricultural enter-prise of this area, with an architectural morphology developed around a courtyard, which is the space for farming operations. The appearance of the manor farm encouraged a massive diffusion of dry stone ar-tifacts, which were complementary to the farm work. A network of dry stone walls was developed in order to allow crop and grazing rotations and to define the mule tracks that connect all the inhabited areas scat-

tered over the territory. Dry stone is used to erect many fundamental ele-

ments of the farm complex: - paving and the seats in the courtyard; - sheepfold, located outside of the courtyard, open-

ings into the walls to allow the passage of animals and protruding stones to defend the flocks from the attack of other animals;

- cattle-sheds, closed on 2 or 3 sides; - cisterns and trough; - the barnyard for wheat threshing ; - canals for the drainage and collection of rainwater. - shelter for shepherds located on the lands far away

from the property and made entirely of dry stone with a corbelled dome (called pagghiari).

- turrets, especially due to the emerging stone collec-tion, that were used for fruit and vegetable kiln (called muragghi).

Figure 2: Dry stone corbelled dome shelter (pagghiaru), near Ragusa. Credits: L. Dipasquale

The profession of “murassiccaro” (master of dry

stone walls), repository of the dry stone local build-ing culture, in Hyblaean area was active until the middle of last century. Today this craft, along with its often low-skilled workers, is disappearing. The disappearance of these workers, who in many cases mimic the original techniques of using cement mor-tar or dry stones as coating of concrete structures, is slowly reducing the original drainage function of the walls. With the introduction of the Code of Cultural Heritage and Landscape (Legislative Decree no. 42 of 2004 and later. Amendments and additions), a dozen dry stone buildings and some areas rich in dry stone works have been subjected to protective meas-ure as ethno-anthropological goods and key ele-ments typifying the landscape.

5 DRY STONE BUILDINGS IN MADONIE AREA

Unlike large areas of eastern Sicily which have a system of landscape strongly characterized by the presence of dry stone architectures and artifacts, in western and central Sicily the presence of these types of artifacts is not related to well-defined his-

torical events or cultural traditions. Dry stone works here are present mostly as spontaneous solutions to needs related to traditional activities; for this reason the typological variety is very small, and the aware-ness around their knowledge is still limited.

Dry stone walls are used along the coast side to retain terrace cultivation for olives and citrus planta-tions. Whereas in the highest peaks of the Madonie, around the main towns which were built on castles and feudal systems, dry stone works were linked to sheep farming.

The most widespread types of artifacts are the so called pagghiari- literarily haystacks, but in reality rural huts equipped with outdoor fireplace and used for cheese-making - and mànnare - fences for the housing of animals - that, when both present, consti-tuted in their entirety the màrcato. This was the place in which the pastor used to gravitate around for its daily activities. The mànnare do not generally show great skill and they denote the spontaneity of the construction, especially in the lithoid elements being not well defined. From a top view, the shapes of those complexes look organic and harmonically inserted in the morphology of the site. They are ir-regular and closed curves that follow the terrain in its unevenness. These large fenced spaces have, in correspondence of the exit, some stone raised ele-ment, called vadile, which are preceded by a system of stones positioned in a way to block the animals during milking, meanwhile allowing the pastor to sit. In some màrcatos there are one or more pagghiai; which have a lower part made with dry stone and a cover sharply angled for easy rainwater drainage, supported by a wooden frame warped in the most es-sential way with beams and rafters around which are tied twigs and straw from the surrounding vegeta-tion. Other examples of pagghiai are present in the area as isolated buildings, presumably used as places for rest and refuge for pastors or as a tool shed for the farmers in cases of land planted with wheat. Among the dry stone typologies present in the terri-tory of the Madonie are also some examples of nive-ra – place for the stockage of snow. In fact, most neviere are located in the high mountains and they are natural holes resulting from karstic phenomena, sinkholes, in which once collected, the snow was maintained by a covering of straw and branches.

Also, finally, the stone is still very present in common buildings, in streets and alleys paving of the Madonie villages.

The set of artifacts in Madonie area till now have not received any recognition as a cultural expression linked to the identity of those places. Nevertheless, the localization inside the Madonie natural park is a favourable condition for this heritage to be preserved through the remarkable activities carried out by the Park authority, including cataloguing, managing and enhancing.

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Figure 3: Bridge of San Brancato, Petralia Sottana, (Palermo). Credits: V. Megna.

Figure 4: Pagghiaru in Terravecchia, Caltavuturo (Palermo). Credits: V. Megna

6 BUILDING TECNIQUE

Apart from the dialectal lexicon, the basic rules for performing dry stone masonry are similar in both the analyzed Sicilian areas. Decidedly, the construction techniques used in Hyblean are more complex and accurate, having a building tradition more deeply rooted into the local culture than the ones of the Ma-donie. The phases described below therefore relate specifically to the Hyblean area but at the same time form the background of principles from which the Madonie masters have drawn their constructive rules.

The stones used for the realization of dry mason-ry is always retrieved locally. The operations to real-ize a dry stone wall are coordinated by u mastru, or murasiccaru, the head mason specialized in dry stone craft. Typically in order to make a wall there are two builders, located on the two sides of the wall, together with two or three labourers who help by collecting the most suitable stones for the con-struction, learning how to recognize them by form and size. The equipments used for cutting and roughing of the stones are elementary and generally composed of the hammer, pickaxe and shovel for soil preparation and the maul and chisel to cut the

larger boulders. The preliminary step is to prepare the soil laying surface, removing the earth to expose the u forti, the outcropping rock. In its absence, a deep 15-25 cm and 80 to 100 cm ditch wide is dug, on which to place the foundation stones. At the two ends of the wall are positioned two larger elements called tistati. The murassiccaro picks up from the pile of stones previously prepared by the laborers the larger boulders and arranges them in two parallel rows, taking care to grip both with the soil between each other, and making sure that the two rows are settled on an ideal plane, slightly inclined towards the center of gravity of the wall. The arrangement of the stones of the first row follows the line drawn by two lanyards, called lenzi, which are fixed 40 cm high from ground level at the two ends of the wall, to standardize the width of the base. The wall thick-ness at the base can vary in function to the stones size: higher in the presence of large blocks, or lower in the presence of smaller ones.

Once the placement of foundation stones is ar-ranged, the central void between the two rows, is filled with flakes and fragments. The elevation of the wall proceeds in a similar manner, by placing the blocks of stone so that the flat side forms the hori-zontal plane, taking care to stagger the joints and filling from time to time the central space with stones and flakes.. The skill of murassicaru is to quickly recognize the right element he will use be-tween the suitable rough stone blocks. Eventual in-congruence will be fixed by martieddu, mallet used also to prepare the flat side. The two lanyards, called lenzi, guarantee the right slope of the wall, called deffinu, and they also indicate the line on which the keystones must stand. The last row is realized by placing the traverse, special pieces that occupy the entire thickness of the wall. Their function is to chain the two faces and close the wall. These ele-ments have a rudimentary form of a crescent, with the flat side placed down.

If there is no closure with special crescent ele-ments, the wall is called a-rrasatu. The height of these walls used to enclose the parcels of land, or to delimit pathway, varies between 1 m and 1.20 m. For higher walls the technique is the same except for the fact that in the middle of those walls is a stringcourse called rriseca. Once the wall is built, splinter wedges are inserted with light hammer blows into the voids left between the stone elements.

In Madonie many of these rules are disregarded, as most of the manufactured goods are "spontane-ous". In fact, depth excavations for foundations are not always performed, nor is any particular attention paid in this phase to the use of large elements to pre-pare a surface to weigh down on the final load. Also the top of walls are not laid with specific rounded or flat stones.

7 THE CONTRIBUTION OF DRY STONE ARTEFACTS TO SUSTAINABILITY

Dry stones offer a way to preserve and enhance rural heritage. Therefore, in terms of sustainability, the four spheres of environment, society, culture and economy impacted by dry stone techniques can be visualized in the following way (Tab. 1):

Environment - Low footprint

- Physical and biodiversity preservation - Minimal visual impact

Society - Identity and historical-cultural values - Increase of employment rate

Economy - Traditional productive activities - Local economy grow

Culture - Local constructive knowledge - Material culture and collective

memory consolidated to the places Table1: Dry stone works contribution to sustainability

As rocks are a natural resource available locally,

dry stone techniques avoid transportation, and its re-lated environmental impact, heading off issues con-nected to mortar production in both environmental and economic terms. Physical compatibility is real-ized through the drainage capacity of the system, which works also as hydro-geological defense against soil erosion. Furthermore the drainage capac-ity is very effective in regulating soil humidity lev-els, which are not regulated using bender, conse-quently decreasing the permeability of the whole system.

Figure 5: Dry stone wall structure and performance toward physical and biodiversity preservation. Credits: Authors

Another important function of raising the walls is

to interrupt the flow of water runoff at points of nat-ural compluvium that otherwise would jump from one terrace to another damaging crops; also the rise of the wall plays a barrier effect which favors the accumulation and infiltration of water into the soil, which in this areal spread is always very granular, coarse and permeable. These functions make dry

stone walling an essential component in creating an agricultural productive system.

Moreover dry stone artifacts have multiple bene-fits which are not limited to providing shelter for livestock but are extended to creating a habitat for a wide variety of other animals (insects, reptiles, birds, etc) and plants, in other words for contributing to bi-odiversity.

When properly built, dry stone walls can last for hundreds of years because of their ability to flex, bend, and resettle as the ground shifts or heaves. If dry stone walls ever need to be repaired, it is simply a matter of properly re-stacking the stones.

Visual compatibility refers to the minimal impact of dry stone artifacts within a natural and environ-mental context that is achievable by the use of stones coming from rocks which create a continuum land-scaping. New dry stone walls acknowledge and build on the history of a place in a way that modern materials can't. From the social point of view the use of dry stone techniques contribute to the cultural sustainability when it is proposed within a site that had the use of dry stone as part of its cultural identi-ty. In this case, preserving and rehabilitating dry stones contribute to an enhancement of the local cul-tural identity. Meanwhile, the necessity of special-ized labour will lead to the creation new jobs for young people, halting the depopulation of internal areas which contribute to the decentralization of people and activities. In economical terms the use of dry stone is an affordable resource to build infra-structure systems related to the revival of traditional productive activities such as to land management and related forms of tourism.

On the cultural level, dry stone techniques form a basic part of a material culture and provides an ex-traordinary catalogue of technological and environ-mental knowledge, contained in the collective memory but at risk of being lost.

Finally, dry stone works constitute a cultural landscape, as they represent a perfect way to organ-ize and model the space, creating a fusion between nature and culture.

8 PRESERVATION OF DRY-STONE TRADITIONAL TECHNIQUE AS LOCAL DEVELOPMENT FACTOR

In Sicily, as well as in the rest of the Mediterranean, dry stone constructions constitute a cultural heritage in a state of advanced neglect due to the abandon-ment of farming activities and related skills. Socio-economic change made agricultural a low income field compared with other sectors. This generated depopulation of rural areas and the introduction of incompatible usages of natural and cultural heritage.

The lack of care and maintenance of fields, once assured by a man's daily presence, led to the re-

colonization by natural vegetation of lands which were once cultivated; but as a consequence it affect-ed the conservation of dry stone artifacts favoring the emergence of structural collapse phenomena. Therefore, it triggered a degenerative process that involved the agricultural system and traditional re-lated artifacts.

The degradation, collapse, and instability of dry stone artifacts are generally determined either by ac-tions of roots, by animals provoking the partial col-lapse of the upper walls, or by pasture activity. Also fires initiated to enhance the herbaceous layer for grazing, destroy vegetation cover and promote soil erosion, becoming a further cause of collapse of re-taining walls. All these factors lead not only to the gradual loss of dry stone heritage in terms of materi-al but also to the gradual disappearance of its value as skill, hence as intangible legacy. To prevent this definitive loss, it is suggested to fol-low two guidelines: - Recreation of the pre-conditions in which those

artifacts were built; - Adaptation of existing and new dry stone artifacts

to cultural and natural tourism development. Indeed, following the sustainable and ecological trends and interrupting the large retailing chains hold by big food industrial companies, the return to agri-cultural economy is included in the logic of “zero mile” production and short distribution chains. This new perspective, together with the actual economical crisis and the revealed failure of the global market system, is leading more and more people to sustain-able methods, looking at local organic food and au-to-production systems.

While awaiting big changes which must be enact-ed on the whole global system of markets, a range of actions and strategies have already been made at all geographical levels to support sustainable projects.

To make dry stone techniques a part of a sustain-able development plan for rural areas it is necessary to include the word “preservation” or “conserva-tion”. In order to avoid any form of misunderstand-ing it is necessary to highlight that preserving natu-ral and cultural heritage is not a freezing process for outstanding landscapes or historical and cultural goods. We need to think about preservation as an in-clusive process of rehabilitation in which heritage, in both tangible and intangible terms, has to be inter-preted as a suitable resource to project local realities into a productive future and a real development pro-cess.

Achieving these goals involves actions rooted in different sectors and integrated into a vision where heritage resources are considered as generator fac-tors. Within a sustainable rural development plan the understanding of the whole territorial system and its dynamics is the pre-condition to carry out objectives and outcomes that take into account the complexity of the involved sectors and stakeholders. General

objectives concerning rural area development could be raising cultural and natural forms of tourism, promoting a new social accessibility of sites through the creation of functions and activities that could guarantee the permanence of new and old farmers – as a consequence increasing and enhancing local productivity and economy, promoting the sense of identity and inclusiveness, the awareness heritage value, and a sense of responsibility that can contrib-ute to a refusal of a short term mind-set.

The principle of minimal impact suggests a low aesthetic physical and environmental impact and in this sense the choice of using dry stone, as we said, can be the correct solution to sustain agricultural ac-tivity, sheep-farming, or related tourist initiatives needing paths, boundary or retaining walls, steps, or some typology of small touristic facility or land-scape elements. Despite the introduction of new el-ements in fragile sites, dry stone is able to guarantee a perfect integration and compatibility within the context and meanwhile a small piece of our identity could be preserved.

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