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Old oil-mill of the Cösta
House of the Cösta
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Downstream from Sacco country, facing the church of San Carlo (now in ruins) up on the slope of Bema, until about 1950 that was passing the old road that from Bema led to Morbegno. The passing travelers were the only sources of visual and audible communicability to the inhabitants of that place. To live in the Cösta means to immerse yourself in nature with a mild climate that has no equal in Valgerola. Crops such as grapes, olives, chestnuts and hemp were grown giving good fruits, being only 500 meters above sea level, so that the land terraced with dry stone walls came down to the valley. The construction and stabilization of a built-up area can be reflected in the period after the great floods that have occurred in valley, with the change of the riverbed of the Adda river, which had depopulated the old "Mosergia" (Morbegno) since this place became uninhabitable and marshy. The families sought a more healthy refuge in the mountains. That would explain the careful construction of walls and rooms to suit the owners of a certain prosperity and not poor mountain farmers. The ancient inhabitants, who know the techniques for the processing of olive oil, nuts and hurd they knew where to trade their products being at a short distance from the people of Morbegno and of mountainsides. The name "CA’ DEI CÖST" was given only recently. Originally was composed only by one house, presumably inhabited until the mid-Seventeenth century. The conformation of this building and of its rooms show that it was built not for breeding animals such as cows, goats, etc. but rather to process and store agricultural products already mentioned above: wine, olive oil and nuts as it attests to the oil-mill of the time, discovered by the excavations. |
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Later on followed the abandonment of housing perhaps due to the evolution of trade, with the advent of potatoes, corn, and perhaps as a result of the plague that caused an epidemic around 1620 thus undermining the health of the family resident there. The timeshare that followed led to call this place "home of the Coast ". The visitor can admire the beautiful fresco on the outside wall denoting the Christianity of the old owners and can be dated to the end of the sixteenth century. Particular interest is the hand that touches the child that demonstrates the large size of original fresco. Probably for the peeling of the image, the painting was later scaled down, creating a niche that frames the Virgin and Child. At the base of the niche painted with frescos of the seventeenth century are readable some abbreviations like (GB. F. S F.) which could refer to the name of a family of Sacco who lived there at that time, as Giovanni Battista S. Filipponi family. There is a room, with interesting details of great value and good taste, related to a balcony that looks towards the rising sun. The walls are pulled by fine mortar, a beautiful chimney to heat the room, planed beams in the ceiling with track design. From here you can go to a large kitchen with a big fireplace and a kitchen-hood supported by strains of chestnut fixed in the wall and up in the ceiling there are always carved beams (no longer manufactured locally). On the back of the building was rediscovered the oil mill and a mill of the fifteenth century used to grind the products of this prosperous family. At that time, before the occurrence of landslides, the town was connected by a plain road that led to Campione (Bona Lombarda) through the Mughera. There are still traces of the old path. This road in Campione was parted: in the valley was crossing the "Tasser" locality as far as San Carlo, church belonging to the parish of Sacco, near by Morbegno. The other road from the mountain was descending towards Regoledo via "Garmasa" and another flat continued towards Cosio. By that it can be deduced that the trade of the Costa house was facilitated by the proximity of wealthy families in the foothills and Morbegno. The only shortfall was the water being supplied from a still existing tank and from a well located in the forest below. Unfortunately, in this place the cricket stopped singing. Where once there were meadows, fields and chestnut trees as far as the Bitto river, now there are only brambles and bushes. Even the Costa family till the sixties cultivated a vineyard on the banks of Mughera with grafts of good quality and gradation. This is due to conformation of the ground with ginsh (bitumen with a capacity to retain rainwater) from here the deep roots of the grapevine drew the necessary moisture. It 's a good tip for those who would like to plant one day a vineyard in those localities. |
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1. Oil press
2. Circular plane - fixed grinder for olives and nuts
3. Fireplace of XV century
4. Ceiling wooden beam
5. Kitchen cupboard with lock
6. Trussed ceiling
7. Kitchen Drain at east
8. Detail of the façade: featured the wooden beams that supported the loggia
9. View of the house from the east side
10. Entrance to the cellar
11. Stone worked with circular indentation, base of a press
12. Stone with hole that was used to close the door-bolt of the cellar
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