Falling asleep and waking up in a place is one of the fastest methods for becoming familiar with a surrounding space. This is what makes any spatial dimension (man-made or natural) a home. That quality of familiarity can also be found in structures that were originally built for other functions. The Cilento area is scattered with remnants produced over the centuries by humans who have crossed this territory: mills, olive presses, shelters, sheds, cellars, jazzi.
In this way, it is possible to connect current actions and pathways to past stratifications. To overwrite past stories with those of the new walkers, the spaces of the past, and the places for shelter (of the harvests, of the flocks, of the shepherds) will become accommodation for the present stay.
In Italian, dimora (dwelling) originally meant place of delay, place for stopping, pallet. The noun jazzo derives from the Latin iacere, to lie; it was the pallet of the shepherds.
The “stazzi” or “jazzi” were the temporary resting places that sheltered grazing animals, and were points that connected villages, sheep tracks and mountain pastures. They are buildings with a rectangular layout, dry stone walls and a sloping roof. Outside, a low stone wall forms an enclosure where herds can stay. These jazzi, which are unused or dilapidated today, can be found over a large area on Mount Bulgheria, and are central to a widespread network of paths.
A further challenge of this project is operative: to produce material innovation through the reutilisation and redevelopment of the structures that run along the paths of the Park.
Dwellings for overnight stays will be developed with reused and recycled materials coming from the territory itself. Every space will be unique, original, determined by its context and representative of its space. The jazzi brought back to life will become places for the hospitality of new travellers. The direct experience of Cilento’s conviviality and hospitality may create a laboratory that can satisfy the need for meeting and exchanging, in order to discover a new way of living nature and this territory.
Accessibility, the availability of the owners, the beauty of the landscape and the peculiarity of the stories connected to the spaces are the reasons behind the choice of the first four jazzi: Jazzo Murici [J1]; Jazzo della Cropana [J2]; Jazzo delle Valli Cupi [J3]; Jazzo del pastore a Chiano [J4].
Maps and visual documentation for reference can be found in the Attachments.
