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Transhumance
Transhumance
was the practice of moving millions of sheep seasonally from one grazing
ground to another, typically to lowlands in winter and highlands in
summer. When winter drew nigh the shepherds guided their sheep from
the mountains of Abruzzo towards the plains of Puglia and back at
the beginning of summer.
Millions of heads of livestock came
to Puglia every year
Even
before Roman times the shepherds of Abruzzo travelled south every
year.
Varro Marcus Terence (116-27 B.C.) a Roman erudite, in his "De
Re Rustica", records that the shepherds of Sannio brought their
flocks to the plains of Puglia and paid a tribute to the state to
be able to do this. The Normans in 1115 set up a specific regime conceding
advantages and privileges to those shepherds who made use of the grazing
grounds. The Swabians tried to regulate this practice and to find
some profit from the transit of so many animals that every year invaded
the Tavoliere. Frederick II of Swabia, took measures to encourage
agriculture, the cultivation of the vine and of olive trees, and also
protected the grazing grounds favouring the migration of the sheep.
For Frederick II, Puglia - a territory where he built cities and castles,
represented his centre of power, from where he administered his empire
and emanated laws.
Castel
del Monte at the beginning of the 1900s, before restoration.
In
a certain way, the richness produced in the South of Italy, was in
part redistributed in these same places. The successive conquerors
considered Puglia simply a distant province to be governed by means
of the various fortresses spread across the whole territory and to
be exploited economically as much as possible . They realised that
as far as they were concerned it was much more remunerative for them
to put heavy taxes on the sheep that yearly passed through these areas
instead of favouring agriculture.
On these fields, that extend far beyond where the eye can see and
where presently wheat is grown, for more than six hundred years only
grass grew here. It was in fact unthinkable to dedicate any of this
territory to farming, because although once it was very fertile, the
passage of the millions of voracious sheep across it devasted the
land.
This explains why the Tavoliere of Puglia is the only extensive plain
which has no trees at all.
The big dog-collar defended the animal
against the bites of wolves
Some
laws were passed which prohibited the planting of trees and guards
were entrusted to check the territory and in case any trees were planted
they had to cut them down. The plain was to remain an endless prairie
of grass.
For centuries the land was condemned to produce richness for others
but not for the local populations. The taxation with its rigid rules
and regulations was further reinforced during the reign of Alphonse
I of Aragon (1442-1458), who in 1447 set up the "Royal Customs
for the transference of sheep in Puglia". This tax-machine was
particularly efficient and procured a steady flow of revenue superior
to any other in all the Kingdom of Naples.
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