LA BAITA
These days, our idea of a Baita, often called a chalet, is that of a small-sized house, situated on a mountainside, made of traditional materials from the local area – stone and wood – usually above 1000m above sea level, and hence not easily accessible during the winter months. This type of habitation has through time become synonymous with leisure and relaxation, where we got to spend time with friends and family. More often than not, these days, the Baita has become ever more equipped with all mod cons, so that it can be used all through the year, even during the colder months. This is a recent development (click on the link to see some Baite for sale http://www.labaitacase.com/mappa/?type=87).
Historically, as well as a dwelling, it was also used for economic ends for the peasant families who worked the land, and had to adapt to the conditions, both of climate and geographical, in order to eke out a living over the course of the year. It’s worth remembering that the various types of construction styles for this type of building are also a reflection of the many occupying forces and neighbouring cultures who influenced and dominated the valley.
This blog is about the history of the Baita in the Alpine settings of the Valtellina.
The Alps have always been a meeting point of different cultures and people. In the 15th century, the Valtellina was surrounded by the Dukedom of Milan, the Venetian Republic, and to the north, the Grey League (Leghe Grigie) and hence a melting pot of cultures spread over the neighbouring valleys, leaving tangible traces, in the local dialects as well as customs and traditions, plus of course in the types of dwellings and local communities. This was also strengthened by the development of two mountain passes which were the Dordona, reached from the village of Fusine, over to Foppolo on the preAlp mountainside of Bergamo province and the San Marco Pass, exploited by the erstwhile Dukedom of Venice to facilitate trade routes with and among the inhabitants of the Bergamo valleys, who were still under the dominion of Venice. The ancient Priula Way is still discernible along the modern road towards the San Marco Pass, with its original cobbled surface rising from the town of Morbegno, through the village of Albaredo, along the Bitto valley up to the pass and down to Mezzoldo, the first town in the province of Bergamo. It wasn’t just the cultural exchanges from different populations which brought about the evolution of assorted building typologies, but also the characteristics and economies of a predominantly agricultural area which were instrumental in the development of particular features of the local habitations. Most importantly, it was the local population’s management of the land in relation to the climate. The Baita as an Alpine dwelling formed a fundamental part of the population’s annual movement up the mountainside in the springtime to reach the upper meadows with their families and livestock. It was a subsistence economy based around the settlements of viticulture and agrarian cultivation, and higher up there were chestnut tree plantations.
It seems then, that the Baita was at the heart of these rural settlements for a population dependent on subsistence, using the mountainsides in the summer months, as well as the trails to bring the livestock and produce up and down the mountain. The Baita hence was more than just a dwelling as defined by T. Forni in his “The rural dwelling and its history” in the Cultural Patrimony of the Comunità Montana Valtellina in Sondrio, as a “vessel of life and time”.
