The ancient Sardinian traditions will surprise you reading about the Bonacossa Family
The Stazzo gallurese is a typical building of the Gallura countryside, surrounded by Tanche (fields), closed by a stone wall, the Stazzo was a completely self-sufficient old fashioned farmhouse: every activity was to maintain the family, nothing was left to chance, they produced everything needed to live. The term stazzo derives from the Latin “Statio, that is a place where you can stop, stay; a place, that presupposes the previous long and tiring journeys in search of good pasture for animals. We find this kind of stable accommodation in Gallura, from about 1500, it appears at the end of the feudal period and the feud certainly inspired it in work and management of resources. It was frequently built on a hill, to dominate the land, and on the front was well cared “lu Pastrucciali” (the square), place of arrival, departure and storage for horses. The wall outside the Stazzo was organized for the temporary stationing of the horses, with a long granite bench above which were some iron rings to tie the horse in waiting. A little further along was a courtyard, with the garden for fresh vegetables. There were usually many plants of almond, peach, fig trees, whose fruits were dried and used for food. Nearby there was generally a big well to draw the water. There was also the vineyard and garden. There was also a room called “Camasinu”, to save the cheese and wine. In some cases, the same room was used to prepare cheese and butter: there was a fire in the middle of the room for this. In some stazzi, like ours in laglientu.com, are still visible traces of this operation: the old wooden beams of juniper were blackened by smoke during the years of fire burning. The women of the family took care of the children, the organic vegetable and poultry, the economic management of the house, while the men were working to the most demanding tasks. In the first years of 1900, there were, in Gallura region, more than six thousand stazzi, scattered in the countryside, and these farms were frequently visited by roving, “li Stragni”, which in Stazzi still found shelter and warm food for many days and returned the hospitality to the hosts doing small jobs, or simply telling stories of other places around the hearth. That’s why in Sardinia B&B and agriturismo or turismorurale B&B are so traditional. From the middle of 1900, people began to move to the cities and industries of the italian peninsula: the Gallura countryside was abandoned and the Stazzi remained closed for a long time. Ours was saved and living as we still leave here. Stazzo Bonacossa was built at the end of the 1600 century and inhabited by the same family, although restored and expanded, it still however, retains the spirit of the true Gallura, its secrets, joys and sorrows of those who lived there. Antonella Bonacossa and her family continue to live there with a big passion for the traditions and respect in the past. People “la jenti” Bonacossa appeared in Sardinia at the end of 1600, we found written traces by the Bishop’s Curia of Tempio, from which the Loiri area depended at that time. The births and deaths of all this area were also recorded in Tempio until the middle of last century, when even small municipalities acquired the Registry. Bonacossa came with high probability from Corsica, as many of the families in Gallura did, probably driven by political or social issues. Bonacossa settled in the Gallura – region buying up the land over the centuries that is currently held. They were always breeders of wild cattle, an activity that needed a lot of land for pastures. Stazzo Bonacossa was the first home of the family and still retains all characteristics of the original Stazzo Gallurese, the elongated structure with local granite in the three-room classic, the complicated system of juniper original beams, the old wood-burning oven, built with dry clay bricks, the bench for the horses, and the niches for the preservation of food. The Bonacossa always pass the names of its firstborn sons, so that Pietro to Raimondo to Pietro till nowadays. Take a tour on our website turismorurale.org to discover the Sardinia Island traditions!