The environment: man and nature
History and traditions
Many are the signs that bear witness to the importance these mountains had in the past, both for activities connected with woodlands and pastures and as trade routes..
The “Homo Salvadego” Museum
The museum is in Pirondini, part of the village of Sacco, in Val Gerola. It is inside a courtyard and the first floor room is completely frescoed. The fresco showing the Homo Salvadego or Wild Man is the most interesting and curious. The presence of the frescoes is indicated above the entrance by a three-faced head and an inscription which reads:" Benedictus sit lochus iste, sit pax intranti, sit in tua gratia quam moranti", that is “May this place be blessed, may peace be to both those who enter and those who dwell here in your grace”.
The building, used as a hayloft and stables, was practically inaccessible until some years ago, until the Cosio Town Council in 1988 began to take an active interest in the building and the frescoes. It was then bought by the Mobegno Mountain Community Authority in 1991 and opened to the public in 1992.
The walls of the frescoed room are decorated with flowers and scrolls with proverbs and sayings in Latin and Italian, written in gothic characters. As well as the “Wild Man” other figures depicted are St Anthony the Abbot and an archer, and there is also a Pietà.
The iron smelting works
Since ancient times and for many centuries, the Orobie Alps chain, especially the eastern part, was famous for being rich in iron ore. Mines were situated at a high altitude, which made mining rather difficult. Pikes and chisels were used until 1630 when gunpowder was used for blasting. That was not an end to the difficulties: the ore had to be smelted, “roasting” it in furnaces built on site, near streams so as to exploit water power for the bellows that fed the fire.
Fuel of course was necessary and forests were cut down to provide it. After centuries of exploitation, it was no longer profitable to continue, especially since tree-cutting provoked such damage to the hydro-geological system that it was decided to abandon mining.
But traces of the past still remain today along with what remains of these old foundries. Place-names also recall this iron-mining past: the village of Fusine takes its name from “fucine” or foundries, for which it was once famous.
The conviction that it is important to remember the way of life of our ancestors and their old crafts has encouraged local authorities to give importance to structures of the past such as the forge in Castello dell’Acqua.
If you visit it and see the people who work there today you can understand how man learned to use the forces of nature, the power of water and fire, with intelligence and skill.
The waters of the Malgina stream are exploited by diverting them into canals in order to make the forge work.
La Linea Cadorna
With the outbreak of the First World War in 1914 it became necessary to prepare a line of defence along the Alps. General Cadorna prepared a strong defensive line from Verbania on Lake Maggiore to Pizzo del Diavolo (the Devil’s Peak) on the Valtellina Orobie Alps, with paths and mule-tracks for transporting materials and allowing soldiers to pass. Trenches and tunnels were built along the fortified areas on the crest of the Orobie mountains.
Today Lombardy Region wishes to re-instate this “line” which fortunately was never actually used for defence, making a list of all the existing structures, and calling it “The Cadorna line: not for war but for tourism”.
It is still possible to visit what remains of the trenches in the following places:
- Bocchetta di Stavello e Pizzo Rotondo
- Bocchetta di Trona
- Bocchetta di Salmurano
- Passo del Verrobbio (Bomino)
Bitto cheese
The Orobie Alps are well-known for the production of a famous cheese called Bitto, made from the milk of Alpine cows which are still taken up to mountain pastures in the summer season. To their milk 10% of goats’ milk can be added. This is heated and curds are added, in large copper pans. The cheesemakers’ skills are of great importance in the whole procedure.
Cheesemaking was traditionally carried out in the Bitto valley in temporary huts, called calecc in local dialect, four stone walls covered by a moveable canvas roof. These structures were used, abandoned, and then re-built, as the cowherds followed the herd up the mountain pastures.
Bitto is a cheese that can be eaten and enjoyed after 3 to 8 months, but if it is left to mature it is ideal after 1 to 3 years, and can be appreciated to the full even after 8 to 10 years.
It is now a DOP product (denomination of protected origin) and undoubtedly the most famous cheese in Valtellina.
“Pezzotti” rugs
The traditional pezzotti rugs were originally made with old pieces of cloth, rags torn into strips, and hemp used as thread in the weft. Weaving was mainly done at home for the family’s own use; very little profit could be made from the sale of such a product since it was made in so rudimentary a way. This kind of rug originated from the desire to recycle old materials that no longer served any purpose. Today pezzotti are still made on wooden looms, and the weaver has to stand while working. The strips of cloth used now are new, and in different materials. The rugs are still made by hand and it takes several days to set up a loom and weave a pezzotto.
The ancient Priula road
The Priula road is the most famous of the many communication routes across the Orobie mountains which allowed the Valtellina to become the fulcrum of intense trade which helped to enrich the whole area. The road was in use from 1593 and was named in honour of the podestà (local governor) of Bergamo, Alvise Priuli, who promoted its construction in order to increment trade between the Valtellina (under the domination of the Swiss Grisons) and the Bergamo side of the Val Brembana (then dominated by the Venetian republic). The route from the Valtellina to the Duchy of Milan was in those times too dangerous although shorter, so traffic along the Priula road was intensified until the arrival of the Austrians, who built a new smoother road and made carriage roads safer.
The poor economy of the area, based on agriculture and other minor activities, could barely support the entire population. The side valleys such as the Bitto Albaredo valley, whose economy was based on chestnuts, potatoes, hemp, woodcutting and products made from the materials offered by its territory, was hit by the loss of trade along the communication routes. This poor economy was the cause of the phenomenon of emigration, which involved the population of the Valtellina as a whole.
