SHEEP TRACKS
Tratturi, this is the name given to the old ways which used to lead to the plains of Puglia. The shepherds used to take their sheep and cows from the mountains where they had spent the summer to the plains of Puglia. It was necessary to do this for two main reasons:
1 -the coming snow
2 -the high cost of storing fodder.
In September numerous flocks of sheep and herds of cows used to get down from the mountains surrounded by packs of dogs. Every now and then you could see along this track stone shelters , necessary for storing fodder. All this is immortalised by the art of G. D’Annunzio and F. P. Michetti.
Alongside these tracks churches were built. They were very often shelters for sheep and shepherds, consolation to souls and bodies. The first sheep tracks were made by the Romans (tractoria), others were made during the Middle Ages but the first legislations go back to the Aragonese domination. Foggia, like a spoked wheel, was the place where all the tratturi got to. The transit on the tratturi was completely free because it belonged to the State, while for the rent of the pasture the shepherds had to pay according to the number of the sheep.
The width of these grassy ways went from 20 metres to 110 metres, the length could reach 250 km. The start was marked by a big rock well visible from afar, called “il titolo”. One of these can be found near Pescasseroli.
