Lama

Lama is a perfect example of a fortified village, perched high up and compact in layout. You have to look up to catch a glimpse of it, then walk along its cobbled streets to step back in time. Its architecture and the ruinsof A Torra – the tower – bear witness to its defensive past.

In the centre of the village, the oldest houses date back to the Middle Ages. Built directly into the rock and huddled close together, they line a maze of narrow alleyways and steep stairways which, in days gone by, formed part of the village’s defences, and today invite you to take a leisurely stroll.

Further down, the architecture bears witness to the boom in olive cultivation during the 18th and 19th centuries. The imposing palazzi built by prominent families stand alongside older buildings, such as the Chapel of San Lorenzu (Saint Lawrence ). Built at the end of the 13th century and listed as a Historic Monument, its walls still bear traces of late medieval frescoes.

Agriculture has left a deep mark on the landscapes of Lama. Olive groves began to be planted as early as the 16th century and flourished in the 19th century, accompanied by olive presses, terraced fields and dry-stone walls. The fire of August 1971 destroyed a large part of this olive grove. This preserved area, designated a ‘Site Patrimonial Remarquable’, still offers numerous traces of this agro-pastoral past – a century-old olive grove, wheat fields, terraces tiered along the hillside and fountains that still flow despite the passage of time, as well as a few century-old trees.

This agricultural history continues today in other forms. At GAEC Lama – L’Ostriconi, Jean-François and Philippe Sammarcelli and Anne Angeli rear a flock of ewes and process their milk on site. Farmhouse cheeses and PDO Brocciu are produced in the farm’s cheese dairy, alongside milk-fed lambs and kids.