Fraggio Abandoned Village

Among the forgotten, abandoned and/or uninhabited places in the Bergamo Valleys, there is also Fraggio, a small village in the Taleggio Valley.Fraggio is a cluster of huts, built by the inhabitants themselves, once farmers and herdsmen, using the limestone available in the area, also used to create the characteristic "piode" roofs.Today most of these homes have been abandoned and have become ruins and the same settled population is no longer there.The few restored houses, which once teemed with activity and life, are now occasionally used for holidays by those who, living in Milan or Bergamo, wish to restore themselves in still uncontaminated nature, away from the frenetic world of the large metropolises.

During the visit to the Borgo, by pure chance, we were lucky enough to meet Mr. Renato who periodically comes to Fraggio from Milan to his beautiful Baita "L'arco" which he personally renovated.While chatting he tells me that he was born in Fraggio in the family farmhouse (the renovated pink one) where the family lived a peasant life.He himself, at a young age, when the herd was moved to the lower Milanese area (San Raffaele - Segrate area) was taken there by motorbike to look after the animals, living a "Fameì" life.For this reason he then attended school, got married and went to live in that area.Currently, no one lives permanently in the village of Fraggio: occasionally only Mr. Renato (with his wife and dog) is present, who also mows the grass near the Oratory of San Lorenzo, his sister and his brother, who have renovated two other homes and some holidaymakers from Bergamo and Milan for holidays.

Originally the "Famèi" (a dialect term for "family" = servant of the house, of the family) was a typical figure of the peasant society of the Po Valley.In some cases, when poverty did not allow all the children to be fed at a young age, the "Famèi" was "rented", through mediators, to wealthier families who exchanged their services for food and accommodation.In other cases however, the "Famèi" had the role of assistant, when large seasonal movements from the mountain pastures to the rich pastures of the lower plain were organised.The transfer was managed by the mountain farmers, better known as "Bergamì", who maintained their residence as well as the ownership of houses and stables in their country of origin, but in the summer they took the herds to the mountain pastures and in the autumn they came down with their flocks and their herds on the plains to exploit the hay until the following spring.Alongside the "Bergamì", who was entrusted with the herd, there were the "Famèi", the helpers and finally the bocia, the shepherd children.Finally, a separate figure was that of the "Casèr", the cheesemaker, the one who knew the secrets of cheese production better than anyone else and who turned his profession into an art.