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| Sutrio's pictoresque corner and on the wall photo of local people's old crafts |
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Sutrio's manicured gardens and on the wall, a sundial
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Sutrio's renovated traditional stone houses with decorated wooden door
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Sutrio ha been nicknamed as Italy's Friuli's village of the "marangoni": "marangoni" is the Friulian language for "carpenters".
Yes, because here woodworking boasts centuries-old workmanship, a process that today still inspires the popular local festival called "Magia del Legno" (Wood Magic) held in September every year and based on the art of carving, sculpting and chiseling wood.
At the Magic Wood exhibition, local and international carpenters, artisans, carvers and sculptors work the wood before the public, showing their mastery and skill.
If you stroll around Sutrio, you can actually see the artists' works spread around the village in a sort of open-air museum.
In Sutrio's woodcarvers' hands, wood comes to life: the chuck of wood is shaped into beautiful shapes just like in the fairy tale of Pinocchio.
Do you remember Collodi's fairy tale? Pinocchio!
Here is Pinocchio's incipit:
"Once upon a time there was
a piece of wood. It was not an expensive piece of wood. Far
from it. Just a common block of firewood, one of those
thick, solid logs that are put on the fire in winter to
make cold rooms cozy and warm.
I do not know how this really happened, yet the fact
remains that one fine day this piece of wood found itself
in the shop of an old carpenter. His real name was Mastro
Antonio, but everyone called him Mastro Cherry, for the tip
of his nose was so round and red and shiny that it looked
like a ripe cherry.
As soon as he saw that piece of wood, Mastro Cherry was
filled with joy. Rubbing his hands together happily, he
mumbled half to himself:
"This has come in the nick of time. I shall use it to make
the leg of a table."
He grasped the hatchet quickly to peel off the bark and
shape the wood. But as he was about to give it the first
blow, he stood still with arm uplifted, for he had heard a
wee, little voice say in a beseeching tone: "Please be
careful! Do not hit me so hard!"
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Sutrio's old traditional stone house and an old sledge hanging out on the facade
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Wooden statue of a woman and on the left, the barber's shop signage in Friulian language
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The reason why over centuries Sutrio has become "the village of carpenters" is because in the past in winter farming and agriculture stopped, so farmers would make wooden tools for the summer or make beds and cupboards for their home, or later wooden altars for the churches which over time they started to sell them abroad.
In fact, in this area there was an old tradition of peddlers travelling all over Europe, in particular Austria, Germani, Poland and Hungary, on foot to sell the tools they produced at home. Things such as wooden tools, threads, textiles and so on.
These local salesmen travelling abroad were called in the Friulian language "cramars": "cramars" were wooden cupboards with drawers which the peddlers carried on their shoulders with straps. Can you just imagine a cupboard carried on your shoulder?
Their wanderings across valleys and mountains were dangerous and risky: they had to cross full rivers, rickety bridges and escape landslides. Which they did...sometimes.
Some of the lucky "cramars" made a fortune abroad to return to their homeland and live in beautiful stone houses. Some never did and lost their lives in avalache, crossing dangerous borders or under the weight of their loads.
As matter of fact, the cramars' migration history has shaped Italy's Friuli Venezia Giulia.
Going back to wood carving and sculping, the craftsmanship in Sutrio was born to provide agriculture with the necessary tools, but over time it rose to art. Wood was no longer seen as a need: wood became a hobby and an art instead.
Over centuries the art knowledge, the creative energy of Sutrio's artists and the carpentry workshops have been enriched more and more by passing them down from fathers and grandparents to children and grandchildren.
Sutrio's generations of artists have enriched the wooden cultural heritage.
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Sutrio's winding narrow roads
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| Sutrio's cat having a rest on a window sill |
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A wooden flower box in the shape of a bear in Sutrio
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More wooden sculptures around Sutrio
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Flowery wooden balconies in Sutrio
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Even the mayor in Sutrio has been dedicated a wooden statue
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A wooden statue of a woman dressed in traditional clothes
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| The Teno Nativity in Sutrio |
In Sutrio the wood craftsmanship has a special gem treasure which is a must-visit: "Teno Nativity".
Over 30 years of work the master craftsman, Gaudenzio Straulino (1905-1988), known as "Teno" made in miniature (in motion) all Sutrio's old crafts and activities: the old traditional houses, the church, the shops, the mills, the sawmills, the mountain huts, and the haymaking.
Sutrio's past world in minuature!
You can visit the Teno Nativity any time, but save the date for Christmas: at Christmas more than 50 nativity scenes are displayed in the courtyards in the center, filling Christmas with magic!
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Gaudenzio Straulino's masterpiece
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| Gaudenzio Straulino, the author of the wooden Nativity |
Don't you want to sneak into these courtyards to go and see what's behind the arch or behind a cute door?
Or see what the kitten is doing in the yard?
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| A secluded corner of Sutrio |
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Cats of Sutrio
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| Selling eggs...naturally made of wood! |
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Sutrio's street and in the background, Chiesa di Ognissanti (All Saints' Church)
When you stroll around Sutrio, you can see houses that have a traditional architecture: old barns and haylofts (the so-called "stavoli") have been refurbished as traditional examples of Carnia's house masonry and turned into multi-building hotels or apartments (the so-called "albergo diffuso") where you can actually stay overnight living a typical house.
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Sutrio's traditional hayloft called "stavoli"
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A view of Sutrio from top of Church of Ognissanti
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Another ancient house of Sutrio with the slate roof
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A glimpse of the village church tower
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An interesting walk is up to the village church,
Chiesa di Ognssanti (All Saints' Church) climbing the steep staircase that reaches the
seventeenth century building and from which you can see a splendid view of the village.
