AudioZoom® by eArs4th Hall - HempIn the centre of the kitchen, a large table, set with some crockery, underlines how frugal life was. All around, various home-made utensils provide information about the kind of food consumed, in particular the production and storage of cheese and butter. A gentleman, kneeling by the fireplace, the only means of heating the house, lights a fire under a pot of polenta. To do this, he uses pieces of canapulo, the woody inner part of the hemp stalk that remains after scutching, that is, the removal of the outer fibre.Hemp dishcloths, finely embroidered fabrics or full of patches, display mastery in the art of creativity and preservation.A number of panels relate amusing anecdotes that emerged during interviews with the ‘wise’ people of the Middle and Upper Maira Valley. It is thanks to their willingness and the richness of their cultural heritage that we have been able to recover the local micro-history.According to oral sources, on the central axis of the valley floor, hemp cultivation came to an end after the Second World War, although it continued in the side valleys until around 1950.In the written sources, hemp is mentioned in the Upper Maira Valley Statutes of 1396 and 1441, which state: ‘Weavers must make a tesam riste - a brim of hemp cloth - for 8 denarii’.

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