Discovering Capanne di Sillano: The Village of Shepherds

Hello dear friends,

If you missed yesterday's post about Giucugnano, I invite you to read it because today's post will be a continuation of yesterday's. The area I'm going to introduce you to today is just a few kilometers away, and what fascinated me about this place called Capanne di Sillano is the fact that it was probably once a shepherd's village. These shepherds were accustomed to transhumance towards the Livornese plains, specifically in the Maremma Toscana area.

To visit this place, I also got a bit wet because a thunderstorm caught us by surprise. I must say that some of these houses were closed, who knows for how long. On the other hand, some were probably inhabited permanently, and others, in my opinion, were used as vacation homes, maybe only in the summer.

There wasn't much to visit, actually, but I must say that the houses, as you can see from the photos, have been restored over time and are really well maintained. I also noticed a small church, which was actually closed, so I'm not sure if it is still consecrated. Religion used to be very important, especially for nomadic shepherds.

Unfortunately, I didn't find much information about this place. However, what I did notice, which I think is the most important, is that it is completely immersed in nature. Surely, there was no paved road reaching here once, and I can imagine that in winter they were completely isolated from the world.

It is a bit strange to think that these shepherds had fixed dwellings, but from what I understood and what my friend told me, there was this tradition of transhumance that has unfortunately been lost over the years. I don't know if anyone in Tuscany still carries on this tradition.

I hope that my photos have virtually taken you to this place and that it has been interesting for you. See you in my next post!