In the municipality of Serra San Bruno in Calabria (VB, Italy) charcoal is still produced according to ancient processes.

The project was deliberately realized in color and not in BN so as not to further enhance the harsh reality and thus faithfully document this ancient craft.

The “scarazzo” is the wood that is stacked and covered with earth according to precise rules until obtaining a structure whose shape resembles that of a volcano. It is fed every evening by introducing logs of wood through its top and provides careful observation as it must cook but not burn to prevent work from being lost.

Special holes along the sides allow the escape of smoke which is the indispensable indicator to understand the correct progress of cooking wood. The entire process takes from 20 to 30 days, depending on the different climatic variables.

The charcoal burners represented in this report are the last charcoal burners of Serra San Bruno and most likely also the last at national level.