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Even the social relatioships between the
landowners and the peasants changed and, in the end of the XIX
cent., there was a clear distinction between country and town.
In Medieval Times, the first hamlets of rural houses formed:
they were called masserie and represented the centre of an
economic structure around which the work was developed.
This work was in particular cattle- breeding. At the end of the XIX cent.,
when the last masserie were built or expanded, the economic
system changed again, and there was a passage from cattle-
breeding production to vine cultivation. The masseria became a
structure that defended production and property, so they
fortified it to make it a safe place from external dangers.
There are different kinds of masserie:
- court masseria. It has walls around it, to defend the
estate.
- With trullo roofs. Houses and barns have roofs with the
shape of trulli and they have different sizes. Some examples of
this are: Masseria Ortolini and Masseria Ferrara.
- With trullo and “pignon”covering: the house roof has a
“pignon” shape, that is a steep roof, and the other buildings
have trullo roofs.
- With linear building: the masseria is made up of a
unique building, and the houses are joined to other buildings.
- With lodge shape: this building developed in the XIX
cent. and it marks a distinction between the Lord’s house and
the farm. (ex. Luco, Mita).
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