Europe was characterized by a strong increase of populationand economical activities most of all the farming ones betweenthe half of XIth century and the half of XIVth century.Several studies have demonstrated that most of the humansettlements already existed before the Black Death started in1346, resulting in the death of an at least a third of the population.In that period men started getting together establishingcommunities and the first villages on alpine territories startedan important and lasting activity related to the transformationof the rural mountain landscape. The basic cell of everysettlement on the Alps was the farm based on the extendedfamily that was extended beyond the family unit. The first elementaryurban nucleus were organized around some mainplaces like the house, the cattleshed, the barn and some areasfor vegetable gardens and fields. In the alpine space therewas an evolution of isolated settlements because of an increasingsubdivision of plots and an increase of dwellings asa consequence of the appearance of new family units. Thatkind of settlement that anticipated the village is called “patronymicquarter” (that stands for “contrada patronimica” inItalian). The village was made of several patronymic quartersthat joined together, that is a group of different family unitswith different family names. That sort of settlement alreadypresented a separation between the private ownership, withan house and its vegetable garden or orchard, and propertiesthat belonged to all the inhabitants like fields, woods andpastures. An assembly composed by each head of the familyregulated the use of all the common properties and the life incommon inside the village.