Pucisca apartments

Pucisca is the biggest Brac settlement with genuine Mediterranean features, creating with its white roofs the original local atmosphere, but this place seems to dislike the sea because of the northern wind that whistles in the harbour during the winter months. Therefore it was situated on the fringes of the bay, out of the wind. The houses gradually climb up to the steep clearings above the port. The inlets created by the descent of the Brac uplands to the sea are thus left uninhabited. Although the white slab roofs, being heavier, better resist the force of the north wind, they are slowly being replaced by industrial tiles. And this means an unnecessary withdrawal of the white, stone-built Pucisca.

The amphiteatrical arrangement of the houses on Batak, Veli and Mali Rac (The Big and the Little Rac), on Stog and on the Latese Brdo (The Latesa Hill) is made in such a way that the houses longer fronts are turned to the harbour as if to a stage. The foot of the harbour is called Talija, probably with no connection with the theatre godess (Thalia), but it is, though unconsciously, associated with it.

The coast in the history of Pucisca belonged only to the nobles and to the artisi, the stone-masons. The farmers had no admission there. The houses on the coast were big, spacious, awith four-eved roofs because the ground-plans were wider and the arrangement within the houses more luxurious. Up the hill, towards the peak, the stone was more negligently cut. The roofs are two-eaved, slabcovered, the yards are larger and the burden of life heavier and more obvious. In this amphiteatrical arrangement, the peasants chose the sites for their houses up on the gallery, linking themselves to the uninterrupted connection with inland Brac. From there many seabound paths emerge, along which, centuries ago, Pusisca is very interesting. On the edge of the harbour there the earliest buildings were erected. But the conditions demanded that forts should be built instead of Renaissance houses.

The harmony of the Renaissance froms, fortification works, baroque buildings and rural setting give to this place some special charm and the colouring of a Mediterranean settlement. Resembling a long narrow pipe, during the winter months the bay draws in the northern wind that forcefully plays roughly with the waves in the port. On days when the wind is blowing, the ships pass by without putting in. This place is used to the sound of the the pick in the fields, to the disobedient oar during the wind and to the heavy iron rods and hammers that cut stone in Pucisca's quarries.