The basket maker's skill represents the intelligence of ancestors who used various materials like wood and reeds to make baskets. Baskets served many purposes like harvesting food, storing cheese, bread, and even carrying babies. This ancient craft of basket making is still practiced today in villages like Valle Castellana, where artisans choose flexible branches and use techniques like spirals and weaving to construct baskets of different shapes and sizes.

1. The basket maker

2. The basketwork represents the
need, the fantasy and the
intelligence of our ancestors.
This skill consists of making
baskets and trugs with wicker
wood, willows, reeds and olives.
Some baskets were usually used
to harvest food, collect grain and
even carry babies.
What are the baskets?

3. The uses of baskets
There were also smaller baskets called “fuscelle”,
made of reed wood. They were used to contain
ricotta cheese and other traditional types of
cheese, such us “caciocavallo”, “caprine”,
“caciofiore” and “pecorino”, which is one of the
most famous kinds of cheese produced in Abruzzo.
All these kinds of cheese are aged so their taste is
really strong.
There were some baskets made of straw in
which our ancestors kept bread.
They were called ‘’li paiol’’, that are the
biggest ones, and ‘’li paiulell’’, that are smaller
than ‘’li paiol’’. All of them have a round shape.

4. Valle Castellana
The ancient art of the basket maker is still practised in
some mountain villages, such as Valle Castellana (TE).
The name comes from the river Castello, which flows
through a wonderful valley situated in the landscape of
Monti della Laga.
There are lots of interesting places in the valley: San
Benedetto hermitage and many churches of ancient
origins, such as the Church of San Vito.
The legend tells that the banks of the river
are mentioned by Dante Alighieri in a
passage of his Divina Commedia.
Some historians affirm that Hannibal went
through this village during his war against
‘’Marsi’’ and ‘’Peligni’’. They think that there
are ruins of a ‘’statio romana’’, a Roman
control station. It is an archeological site with
ancient graves and sepulchers and also a
Roman road.
The defending placement of Castel Manfrino
was built by King Manfred to defend the
Northern borders of the Kingdom of Naples.

5. The techniques
The artisan chose a number of really
straight branches of the same thickness
and length, he removed the bark from
them, he cut them in a very thin way
with an awl and then put them in a bowl
with some water to make the branches
more flexible.
The main techniques were ‘’la spirale’’
and ‘’l’intreccio’’. They consist in making
an exterior frame and intersecting the
finer branches around it.

6. Li bigunge
I cestoni
Lu cruelle
Il cesto
Lu panare
Il paniere
La panche
La panca
Li canestre
I canestri

7. Sitography and bibliography
•www.regione.abruzzo.it
•www.mestieriartigiani.it
•www.hclara.it
•Bell’Abruzzo-la guida, Edizioni Bell’Abruzzo
•Giulio Di Nicola, Paesi d’Abruzzo, Arnaldo Forni
Editore
•www.earthgardeners.it
•www.smartapp685.com
•www.ilfattoteramano.com
•www.saporidimelilli.com
•www.dimanoinmano.it
•www.mentiinfuga.com
•www.giuncocasa.com
•www.culturaitalia.it