The most renowned lumberjacks in Ticino came from the Pontirone Valley, the Lavizzara Valley and the Onsernone Valley, but already from the first half of the 19th century the professional lumberjacks active in our region came from the Bergamo area and the Ossola Valley.
The lumberjacks were hired seasonally (approximately from the end of summer until February) by the owners of the forests (patrician or municipal) or by the timber merchants. Generally the lumberjacks lived in the immediate vicinity or in the part of the forest where they worked in farmhouses or barns, when present, or in makeshift shelters that they built using wood, bundles and bark.