Terraces

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The most characteristic feature of the Brenta valley is without a doubt the system of terraces that cover the lower valley slopes. This was a collective design, created not from the idea of an individual but from the experience – and necessity – of the many.
Observing this incredible tapestry of surfaces and dry-stone walls – the masière, from Latin “maceria” – instinctively brings to mind the rice fields of Indochina or pre-Columbian corn cultivation, which were derived from the same wisdom.
This artificial landscape is therefore the result of the work of the local community who since the 1700s had worked out how important tobacco cultivation was set to become, recently introduced and imported into the Brenta valley by the Benedictine monks of the Santa Croce di Campese monastery as a “sniffing” plant with expectorant properties that would become one of the most widespread and poisonous vices on the planet.