The old village houses

At the highest of these houses, resolutely facing the south, are small covered balconies which were used for drying fruit. The dwellings formed a barrier against brigands and wolves. Any spaces between the houses were closed off with walls, which, once the village was secure, gave rise to zigzagging stairways. Down below are the gardens (“horts” from the Latin hortus), where the vegetables which were so precious to the village grew, mosaics of plots facing due south until the foot of the promontory. Like all such areas today, the gardens are partly abandoned and have been invaded by shrubs and bushes.