Masseris/Masera Rural Village and Montemaggiore/Matajur

The toponym Mašera derives from the Neo-Latin word "masseria" (farm with house), while Matajur retains the Slovenian name of the mountain behind it (from the Latin "Mont Major"). The villages of Masseris (760 m above sea level) and Montemaggiore (955 m above sea level) are located on the southern slope of Mount Matajur and are approximately 2.5 kilometres apart.
Masseris is a "densified village" with buildings that gravitate around a compact core structure. A dense network of paths and alleys cross the village, leading to houses and agricultural buildings. Below the village extends a large area of terraced fields, supported by dry stone walls and dotted with numerous small barns and some kozolec (rustic structures with wooden trellis). Noteworthy is an 18th-century building situated just above the road, which rises three stories above ground level with an "L" shape and an angled loggia over three levels, supported by an elegantly carved stone pillar.
The village of Montemaggiore consists of three small clusters: the two smallest are called Franci and Podoriehi. Some buildings have preserved the characteristics of the local architecture; among these stands out a polychrome painting depicting Christ with a bilingual inscription (Slovenian-Latin), the work of the naïve artist Jàcun Pitor.
In the village is the Saints Gervasius and Protasius parish church, expanded and modified in the 19th century on a previous construction from 1516.