exposure by Rick Gush
Because of the abundance of rock in the soil , Italy is pass over with rock terraces , like this one found next door to my studio .
One thing thatItalian agriculturehas in teemingness , particularly here in Liguria , is rocks . Except for the expectant flood lamp plain called the Po river valley in the area around Milan , Italian James Leonard Farmer can only dream about farm deep alluvial soil . Instead , what they ’ve done across the area is pick up the abundant rocks and use them to build wall and fill in behind them with dirt scrounged up wherever potential . The resultant rows ofterracesclimbing up the slopes are in all likelihood the single most notable feature of most Italian farm .
In the arena next to my unexampled studio apartment , I can see this Graeco-Roman arrangement . In fact , it can be date all over Italy , from the island of Sicily down south to the foothill of the alp that form Italy ’s northerly mete . Olive trees overlook the terraces and a few other fruit trees are mixed in .
When my wife and I go hiking in the forest behind our home , we see old terrace walls , evidence that poor Fannie Merritt Farmer have been ramp up rock walls here for 100 of year . Liguria is the northernmost extent of the ancient Etruscan culture , which flourish before the Roman epoch , and it ’s still possible to see many terraces that were first constructed by Etruscan farmers . The end of the Roman era check a great hustle of patio building on the difficult slopes of Liguria , as having one ’s farm up in an unobtainable location afforded protective cover from the Saracen plagiariser that harness the Mediterranean in those year .
The most well - noted protective side building in this area is the Cinque Terre , which is now a famous tourist zone filled with hike trails that wind up and through the ancient terraces . It has been count on that in the Cinque Terre , more stone was used to make the terrace paries than was used to build the with child pyramids of Egypt . That may be , but the Cinque Terre is just one modest location . I ’ll wager , if it could be figure , that the John Rock used to progress all of the terrace in Liguria would easy issue enough materials to build 10 or 20 solidifying of Egyptian pyramids .
Because of the abundance of rock in the soil, Italy is covered with rock terraces, like this one found next door to my studio.
My old Vespa is like new !
Up until the end of the second World War , all of these rock wall were built without the use of concrete , and those wall are call “ dry paries ” here . I ’ve helped recontruct a few dry walls , and it ’s improbably difficult piece of work to build a dry wall 7 or 8 foot marvellous that will be sturdy and not crock up under the press of the backfilled soil . It ’s a will to the construction attainment of all those old Etruscans and Ligurians that a great many of the ancient ironic wall are still standing after so many centuries .
Speaking of honest-to-goodness stuff , I ’m happy to account that I just finished the overhaul of my former 1978Vespa . The exuberance of the new year inspired me to buckle down the right way aside and fix up the old scooter , thereby already ticking off one of the of import items on my resolve listing , and I ’ve finished well before the oddment of January ! I took it all apart , cook or replaced all the drawn parts , then stripped it all down to the metal and repainted everything . I am now patting myself on the back heartily .
