The mother of all fibres
Ampelodesmos mauritanicus is a large grass whose name finds its origins in two Greek words àmpelos (vineyard) and desmòs (tie). Not surprisingly, until recently, local farmers have used this plant to tie grapevines and other plants to wooden posts. It is interesting to note that while basketry is a male work, the weaving of Ampelodesmos (locally known as stramma) is —instead— a strictly female activity. Generally, small stramma ropes (fununciéglio) had a wide variety of uses in agriculture. A strong rope known a funa a dùje lippe was composed of two groups of filaments and used for different purposes, such as sustaining fruit tree branches to prevent them from breaking. To produce the strongest ropes, the master weaver used about twelve leaves of Ampelodesmos, rolling them together to get a two-filament cord. A different type of weaving produced the so-called trézza (plait); a long-curved iron needle was used to add new fibres during the weaving process. Fibres were woven like a hair’s plait to produce ropes that were rolled circularly around demijohns to prevent their breaking, as well as to protect the content (wine or oil) from direct sunlight. A wider plait made of 7/9 sets of pounded leaves, known as jéttola, was used to make a flexible-large container (spòrta) which was tied on both sides of the back of mules and donkeys. More pieces of jéttola were joined together to produce unrefined carpets to be placed on the doorstep, and to make flat rectangular trays (spasèlle), used by fishmongers to display their merchandise.
In the past, in fact, fish was also sold in flexible bags made of stramma. Other locally made stramma objects, included shopping bags, hats, medium-sized baskets for bread, eggs, and mushrooms, etc., saddles for horses and donkeys —as well as cylindrical containers to store grains and legumes— up to two meters in height. Stramma was also employed as thatching material for the traditional pastoralists’ stone hut, known as pagliaro, for the construction of miniature brooms used as a magical defence against witches (janare), as well as for other types of brooms (e.g. to clean chimneys, bread ovens and wine barrels). The trade of Ampelodesmos survived until the mid-1950s both in Maranola and neighbouring villages (Trivio, Castellonorato, Itri, Ventosa, SS. Cosmo and Damiano). During the 60s, the introduction of synthetic material (such as nylon) brought this trade to an end.