Oriu
Oriu (plur. Orii) is the name for a type of building that was built in Corsica under a natural rock overhang ( Abri ) or in a natural cavity ( Tafoni ). Preserved or easily accessible are:
- L'Oriu de Cannis, as a residential building, in Figari south of Sotta
- L'Oriu di Chera, as a barn, in Figari south of Sotta
- an Oriu at the Col de Salvi pass 509 m in the Balagne
- an Oriu at Speloncato near Calvi
Although there are hundreds of Orii in Corsica, they are little known and difficult to find in the maquis . They are said to have been built in the 16th and 17th centuries by shepherds who left the plains in transhumance in summer and went to the mountains where they needed seasonal shelter. However, many are not really in the mountains and there are a kind of rustic buildings as free-standing stone huts.
A Paliaghju (or Paillier) is a place where a Corsican shepherd tends his hay and a Stazzu (or Bergerie) is the free-standing accommodation of the shepherds and sheep. The expression "stazzu" modified from the Latin "statio", station, means farm and house of the farmer. These agro-pastoral buildings can also be found in Gallura . Groups of such buildings are called piazzili in Corsica, and a section reserved for sheep and goats is called Grìtulu. The shepherds are called Bergeries. There are tens of thousands of Paliaghju and Stazzu all over the island, protected even at the ruin stage as they represent Corsica's shepherd heritage and transhumance.
There is little literature on the Oriu, the Corsican troglodytes . In prehistoric times, Tafoni were used as graves on the island . Frederica Dorothy Violet Carrington (1910–2002) thought Orii was a manifestation restricted to the south, but it also exists in the north of the island.
literature
- Dorothy Carrington: Corsica. Portrait of a Granite Island. Reprinted edition. John Day, New York NY 1974, ISBN 0-582-12630-4 .