Hadamo

We are in Baracco, a small division of Roccaforte Mondovì, in the western Alps in the southern part of the Piedmont region. Here, where kyè, a linguistic variant of the Provençal Alpine language is still spoken, a group of friends decides to relive the era of the old buscatiè, or woodcutters. Dressed in period clothes and using only the tools of the time, thanks to the help and experience of Barba Ninu, the last of the great buscatiè of these mountains, they depart for the woods, dressed in the colours of autumn. The felling of the beech and chestnut trees, the setting up of the launching piazza (above) and the arrival point (below), the transportation and the tension of the heavy steel cords with the wooden lathe built on site: all is carried out as it once was, without the aid of mechanical means. Winter comes and with it comes snow. It is time to go back up there, on a sunny day. With the cry “A la vita!”, the timber is launched and sails quickly, hissing, on the rope before it lands below. The sleds will transport the wood down the steep ridges of the Ellero valley, and to the town.