They were workers specialized in cutting a log into planks or beams. Most of the segantini in Ticino came from Trentino-Alto Adige (hence the name “Trentino saw”), from Valtellina or from the northernmost regions of Lombardy.
As a rule, segantini worked directly on the site where the trees had been felled or at the edge of the forest. To cut the logs, they used the Trentino saw.
In the Italian speaking part of Switzerland, the activity of segantini was present until the end of the 19th century.