The first Italian UNESCO site
In Valcamonica, the long valley of the Oglio river north of Lake Iseo, lies one of the largest collections of prehistoric rock art in the world: over 300,000 figures engraved on the rocks smoothed by glaciers, over a period of about eight thousand years, from the Epipalaeolithic to the Middle Ages, with the greatest concentration in the Iron Age, by the people the Romans called the Camunni. In 1979 it was the first Italian site to be inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List.
The engravings depict hunting scenes, warriors, deer, ploughs, huts, labyrinths, maps of villages and symbols such as the Camunian rose, a four-armed figure that has become the emblem of the Lombardy region. The richest area is around Capo di Ponte, where the National Park of the Rock Engravings of Naquane displays the Great Rock with about a thousand figures, among woods of chestnut and pine. Other parks in the valley, such as Seradina-Bedolina, Cemmo, with its great boulders, and Luine, can also be visited.
Tip: the engravings are best seen in grazing light, early in the morning or late in the afternoon; the MUPRE museum in Capo di Ponte explains the context.
Where it is
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Where to stay near Capo di Ponte
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