Vernacular architecture in the Tratturi landscape system. Knowledge planning. A focus on the Molise segment

The sheep tracks, the grassy paths used by the flocks to reach milder regions for their pastures in winter, are a heritage of landscaping, archaeological, political, social, and even religious importance. The ‘Tratturi’ are authentic monuments, full of many stories: of the shepherds, merchants, and pilgrims who traveled along with them. Still, they are also rich in the many buildings built along with them and the villages that grew up at the confluence of this dense network of roads. Transhumance is an ancient phenomenon. It was already being practised in the protohistoric world of the Italic peoples, and the Romans preserved this tradition and implemented it. Their importance involves the pastoral world and the political, civil, social, and economic interests of the sheep tracks' lands. There were posts, farms, taverns, ‘mungituri’, and rock-hewn churches that punctuated this particular pasture system and around which the financial world of these lands revolved along these routes. The sheep tracks that we know today are those reorganized in 1447 by Alfonso I of Aragon, credited with institutionalizing an ancient practice by organizing a complex administrative, judicial, and commercial system: the “Dogana delle Pecore” (the Sheep Customshouse) This complex administrative and territorial organization of the Kingdom of Naples established the width of sheep tracks in 60 Neapolitan passes (about 111.11 linear meters) and the facilities for resting: fountains, shelters, and vast grassy meadows. Alongside these routes, churches, taverns, and posthouses began to be built, essential structures for the rest of the shepherds and flocks and the trade that could be carried out on them. In addition to the 14 large sheep tracks, there were also 70 'tratturelli' (varying in width between 10 and 30 Neapolitan passes) and 14 ‘bracci’ used as cross-links. This significant landscape ensemble is gradually being lost in the neglect caused by abandonment and economic exploitation of the land. The superintendence also describes very few constraints for the aerial and punctual protection of the sheep tracks and the rural architecture that gravitates around them. Therefore, it was decided to formulate a project, also endorsed by the CIAV Committee of ICOMOS ITALY, to plan these assets’ knowledge. This need led to the idea of creating a geographical information platform. A GIS can bring out the quantity and quality (expressed in typological, constructive, and dimensional terms) of the rural architectural structures that are still present in the territory and their state of conservation. It is necessary to plan for the prudent management of funding, which must be directed firstly at preserving the cultural heritage of which these buildings are part and enhancing them while respecting the landscape system of which they are an integral part.