The transumanza is the Italian term for transhumance, the traditional twice yearly migration of sheep and cows from the highlands to the lowlands, and back.
Transhumance is an ancient Italian custom, by which large flocks of sheep in the mid fall were driven south from the hilly and mountainous regions of the Apennines to winter over in the more southern coastal plains of Apulia and, less commonly, Lazio.
In the mid spring of each year this migratory pattern was reversed as the herds traveled to the fresher and greener pastures of the higher Apennine elevations in the Abruzzo Region of Italy.
Over the years transhumance affected the entire economy of Apulia, strongly favoring the clearing of land for sheep grazing at the expense of agriculture and forestry.
In past centuries, the Transumanza had a great impact on the lives of the shepherds whose job was made more difficult by the lack of modern agricultural machinery, enclosed pens for grazing, and refrigeration of the sheep's milk that was gathered along the way.