Castagno = Sweet Chestnut Tree
Castagna (plural castagne)  =  Sweet Chestnut/s
Castagneto = Chestnut Plantation

Up until just a few decades ago, the humble castagna was a vital part of the Italian contadino’s (peasant’s) diet. Il castagno, often referred to in times past as l’albero del pane (the bread tree) proliferated around small towns and villages during medieval times, where it was carefully cultivated in order to provide a plentiful supply of its highly nutritious fruit.

Here in Lunigiana, northern Tuscany, it’s easy to find remnants of this important culture. A walk amongst the wooded slopes of the Appennino Toscano Emiliano mountains, which seen from a distance appear untouched by the hand of man, will reveal ancient terraces supported by dry stone walls upon which repose stately gnarled examples of the once precious trees. These terraces, carved into the slopes with the most basic of tools and a huge amount of effort, served to collect the castagne when they fell from the trees in the autumn, thus rendering them easier to gather.

A once familiar sight, smoke rises from the roof of a seccatoio. Photo (CC)

Another very evident trace of the ‘chestnut culture’ is the ubiquitous metato (chestnut drying barn) or seccatoio (literally: dryer) which in our part of Lunigiana is commonly known as il gradile. In fact we have a gradile on our land, which has now been transformed into a small but useful dependance, or guest apartment. But when we bought our property a decade ago the gradile was still as it had been left by the previous owners, blacked by years of fuliggine (soot) from the fire which was used to essiccare (dry) the castagne, and imbued with a mouth watering odour of roasted chestnut.

The primitive and labour intensive task of drying le castagne is well documented in a fascinating article which I recently found in the monthly news sheet, TuttoMontagna. Here are some edited extracts from the article together with my translation into English:

Il metato … era composto da un unico locale all’interno del quale il piano terra era diviso dal primo piano non da un soffitto ma da una serie di travetti di legno, che andavano naturalmente da una parte all’altra della stanza, a un metro circa di distanza l’uno dall’altro. La preparazione del metato consisteva nel chiudere lo spazio vuoto esistente fra i travetti, appoggiandovi sopra, nell’altro senso, i canìcce (listelli di legno triangolari di 3 o 4 centimetri di spessore), che venivano disposti così vicini l’uno all’altro da impedire che le castagne potessero cadere nella fessura che si veniva a creare tra di loro. La forma triangolare faceva sì che le castagne, incastrandosi fra l’uno e l’altro, li bloccassero con il loro peso.

The metato … was composed of a single building, inside of which the ground floor was divided form the first floor, not by a ceiling, but by a series of wooden beams set about 1 meter apart which ran, naturally, from one side of the room to the other. The preparation of the metato consisted of closing the spaces between the beams by resting i canìcce (triangular laths of wood around 3 to 4 centimetres thick) crosswise upon them. These (canìcce) were placed close to each other in order to prevent the chestnuts from falling through the gaps that were created between them. Their triangular form ensured that the chestnuts, slotting between the laths, blocked the gaps with their weight.

Le castagne spread out on the canìcce ready for drying. Photo (CC)

Nel metato, il fuoco veniva acceso a piano terra e il calore, insieme al fumo, filtrava attraverso i canìcce facendo essiccare le castagne. Il fuoco, però, doveva consumarsi lentamente, senza che la fiamma divampasse, altrimenti le castagne avrebbero assunto un colore rossastro e anche il sapore ne avrebbe probabilmente risentito. Il legno utilizzato per questa delicata operazione era, naturalmente, castagno, ma più dei rami erano adatte le radici, e per questo motivo durante l’anno era già stata messa da parte qualche ciòca (ceppo con radici).

In the metato, the fire was lit on the ground floor and the heat, together with the smoke, filtered through the lathes and dried the chestnuts. The fire, however, had to burn slowly, without blazing, otherwise the chestnuts would become reddish in colour, and the taste would also have been affected. The wood used for this delicate operation was, naturally, chestnut, but it was the roots that were favoured over the branches, and for that reason a few bundles of roots would have already been put apart during the year.

A group of contadini pose in front of the gradile

Una funzione importante, in questa fase, la svolgeva la pùla, che veniva conservata da un anno all’altro. Ricoprendo infatti il fuoco con questa specie di segatura si impediva che le fiamme divampassero, mantenendo il calore e permettendo alla legna di durare più a lungo.

During this phase the pùla (the dried chestnut husks), which was set aside from one year to another, played an important role. In fact covering the fire with this sawdust like material prevented the fire from blazing up, thus maintaining the heat and allowing the wood to last longer.

La canìciâda, cioè la fase di essiccazione, durava in media 45 giorni, ma a metà circa di questo periodo era necessario “voltare” le castagne e questa era sicuramente l’operazione più delicata dell’intera lavorazione. Per “voltare” le castagne, cioè spostare quelle che durante i primi venti giorni erano più vicine al fuoco, sostituendole con quelle che invece si trovavano sopra le altre, si usava una tavola con la quale si “raschiava” lo strato di castagne, asportandone una certa quantità, che poi veniva messa da parte dentro un sacco. Questa operazione veniva ripetuta fino a quando tutte le castagne erano state raccolte, quindi, partendo dal primo che era stato riempito, si tornavano a vuotare tutti i sacchi sopra ai canìcce.

The the drying phase (La canìciâda in dialect) lasted around 45 days, but about half way through this period it was necessary to turn the chestnuts, and this was definitely the most delicate part of the whole operation. In order to turn the chestnuts, in other words move those that were closest to the fire during the drying process, and substitute them with those that were above, a board was used to ‘scrape’ the layer of chestnuts, taking away a certain amount which would be put aside in a sack. This operation was repeated until all the chestnuts had been collected, then, starting with the first sack that had been filled, they were poured once again onto the lathes.

to be continued ……..