Thatched Roofs

Barns and other farm outbuildings covered with thatched roofs have always been a distinctive characteristic of the villages of Hafling/Avelengo and Vöran/Verano.

A few examples of this archaic architectural construction can still be seen while hiking, including at the Spitzegger Farmstead in Vöran and at Gfrar in Aschl/Eschio.

Mounting thatched roofs such as these requires a lot of work and skill on the part of the Strohdecker, or roofer. The Strohdecker must bind the straw-usually rye but wheat is also used-on mild winter days into bundles about the diameter of an arm, called Dachschab. A piece of the roof is repaired every year; in this way, the whole layer of straw is completely replaced every twenty years or so.

As Richard Furggler wrote in his compendium entitled Tschögglberg: "The most striking feature of the folkloristic peculiarities of high plateau is-actually, one must almost say 'was'-the majestic thatched roofs on the farm buildings."