The Pantelleria's dammuso as we see it today is the result of a development in the history until the eighteenth century. Clearly emerge two eras in the construction technique of dammuso: the era of táiu and the era of the lime ... "The word" Taiu, "from the bush dialect, denotes a mortar made of earth mixed with water.
This first period goes from ruin Cossira until the resumption of trade with the mainland which should coincide with the Byzantine occupation (year 533). Throughout this time Pantelleria was a totally self-sufficient country and totalitarian, who had to fend for themselves in every field of its activity. In construction, for want of lime, he arranged it with táiu which was primarily used in the roof. The time was composed of hewn stone, long-limbed, put into cutting work (in dialect: "the cozzu"), the gaps between the stones were filled with smeared táiu which was mixed the crushed stone; a technique in rustic buildings, such as stables, has been practiced until the last century.
The exterior walls were built with the same material and with the same technique of the containment walls of the cultivated land, but were much more impressive, of a thickness that also reached three meters and were costrutiti with the technique so called a "casciáta".
The wall to casciáta is composed of two spaced apart parallel stone rows, embedded cut cutlery between them; the gap between the two rows is filled with well-aimed stones minute and earth.
The effect that we find still, yielded by the use of this masonry technique, is that of making a hollow wall, refractory to heat, to cold and to noises. With this stone the panteschi can boast of being pioneers of modern bioarchietttura and even the most canonical of building systems; the casciáta, in fact, is now reproduced in the concrete formwork. The arrival of lime island brings about innovations in the construction technique. The broken stone masonry is not abandoned, but many things change and if new ones are introduced:
Thanks to the lime, the first bush arranged to shield his head; the táiu mantle was in fact a too inconsistent coverage for the roof: even when not seep water, the humidity had to be permanent in the house.
Then had to provide to guard the feet, that is to pack the floor, it was either clay or stone pavement.
The roof covering was carried out with the tuff mixed with lime and earth. A better cement wall ccasciáta, is introduced into the interstices the lime mixed with earth.
As well as to make up the time you no longer fit in with painstaking patience stones arranged in cutting but using lime amalgam alloy and colleague.
Thanks to the lime is possible a new type of ddammúsu construction, a new construction technique. The construction of stone walls cut decorated in geometric rectangles greatly reduces the thickness of the outer walls bringing it to about 80 cm.
The biggest advantage that offer the square stones is to not need to be walled up in two rows, but in single file.
Finally it is possible, always thanks to the lime, roofing dome.
The appearance of the cement finally causes the walls are no longer built in inclined plane, but to lead.
The in squared stone walls, however, not supplant definitively those in casciáta, so much so that these are built today still alongside the ancient building technique that new.
The soft roof domes are designed to collect rainwater and channel it through the rain in an underground cistern.
the tank is also constructed with the same technique of dammuso; a plaster makes it waterproof and a narrow side opening allows the passage to those who need to repair or clean.
Alongside the often dammusi are the low round towers, often of ancient origin, which are also built with dry stone walls: these are the so-called GARDENS Pantelleria where they find shelter from the wind and lemon and orange trees that enclose a small, intimate paradise of silence, colors and scents.
Over time, and particularly in recent decades, the Dammuso has been enhanced thanks to the intervention of some clever and creative architects, thus changing from primarily poor country cottage in large charming residence where you can live in comfort, or simply spend a different holiday.