History of the stazzi / Storia degli stazzi in breve

History of The Stazzi


The word Stazzu comes from the Latin “Statio “which means house and farm at the same time. This is because the stazzu use to comprise the house where the family lived and other buildings around a piece of land set aside for the animals. In Gallura these houses started to be built from the 1700s.

The structure is modest with a rectangular shape. Built with very thick walls of about 80 cm. It is not normally plastered outside except for the front wall. Inside it is painted white. Granite is the main material used for the building and it is of local origin. The main door is higher the outside terrain as it rests on a granite block across the threshold. The door would originally have been a stable door, allowing the top half to act as a window during the daytime. The roof has gable ends with roof tiles not cemented between, but kept in place with stones. Internally juniper beams would support the weight of the entire roof and between them bamboo canes would complete the design.

The stazzu has two different typologies – a mono-cellular and a bi-cellular. The second one more common than the first. The bi-cellular one has a room for the kitchen and one for sleeping. The two rooms are connected by a central open passage. As the family would grow in number the stazzu would be extended either keeping the rectangular shape or creating an extension at the back of it. As in Scotland the cottages have a rowan tree, in Gallura there would be the leccio which would provide shelter from snow and keep the house in the shade during the summer.

The animals were kept in small buildings around the house. Pigs, sheep and hens were the typical domestic animals. In addition to this an orchard was the source of vegetables and fruit. Goats and bees were also part of the stazzu-farming business.