The disappeared trades: the Gerlàt, the artisanal construction of the gerlo.

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Published on Nov 14, 2023

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Alta Valtellina, professions that have now disappeared: Al Gerlàt. The gerlo (al gérlo, al gèrlu) is a container, equipped with shoulder straps (breciàl, breciài), which was used by farmers to transport wood (fégn), manure (gràscia), potatoes (tartùful), straw (sc'ternùm) or other. Until a few decades ago it was a work tool used daily then, with the arrival of mechanical means in particular, it fell into disuse. It was built by hand, especially during the long winter months in which activity in the fields was, by necessity, reduced. In Alta Valtellina it was above all the hamlet of Santa Maria in Valdisotto that had the largest concentration of Gerlàt, as those who built the gerli were called. The gerlo was skillfully constructed by weaving long, thin sticks (li sc'codìcia, li sc'cudìcia) of hazelnut (còler), duly debarked (rusc'chéda), around a framework of vertical slats (li còsc'ta, or i bachetìn depending on the method of construction) of birch (bedögn) held together by small strips of birch wood (al font, al colosc'tro or losc'tro). The shoulder straps were also formed from long, thin birch branches that were twisted (intorté) on themselves to unnerve the fibres and make them resistant even when they were dry. In the spring of 2014, the gerlàt of S. Maria (Le Fontane hamlet) Pasquale Bonetti (born in 1936) built one of his last gerli using the original technique he learned about sixty-five years earlier and with which he made, in the times of greatest use of this then irreplaceable work tool, about fifteen gerli a year. In the film, the technique is compared with a slightly different way of building the gerlo, quicker but which produced perhaps less robust products, the one adopted by Modesto Rodigari (b. 1909 - d. 1989) in his home in the locality of Al Plàt, above Piatta, also in Valdisotto. Modesto was interviewed in September 1983, including the interesting photographic sequence that is also reported in the documentary. The gerlàt was an undisputed witness to the hard work of mountain farmers in different situations and eras and, as Pasquale says in the film, "it was always on the shoulders". Al Gerlàt. A documentary by © Giovanni Peretti, Mob. 351 944 9083 - [email protected] Artisans: Pasquale Bonetti (born 1936) and Modesto Rodigari (b. 1909 - d. 1989). Recorded in the local dialect of the hamlet of Le Fontane and of piatto, in the municipality of Valdisotto, and subtitled in Italian. Duration 47 minutes. Production: Alpinia, Bormio, 2023. Music: © Joachim Lehberger, for Alpinia. Narrator: Fausto Molinari. Duplication is prohibited by law. Reproduction in public places or places open to the public or publication by digital means, including the Internet, is prohibited unless expressly authorized in writing by the rights holder. Copy for private and domestic use, © All rights reserved.

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