What to see in Valcamonica, an itinerary including the park of rock engravings, which is one of the most interesting excursions to do in this geographical area of Lombardy.
Tourist information
The name Valle Camonica or Valcamonica derives from the Latin term used by ancient writers to indicate the inhabitants of the area or the Camunni.
The main feature of Valcamonica is represented by the rock engravings, which are images carved in the rock, made up of over 300,000 figures, impressed on the rocky surfaces by its prehistoric inhabitants, the people of the Camuni, from which the name of the valley also derives.
The ancient Camuni inhabited these areas from the end of the Neolithic period, about 8000 years before Christ, until the times of Roman domination, which began with the submission to Augustus in 16 BC. C., when the indigenous cultural evolution of this people stopped and the activity of engraving on the rocks ended, which gave us, through a fascinating illustrated story, the culture and the various transformations of the ancient Camunian civilization.
Val Camonica is a very large valley that opens in the central Alps of Lombardy, between the Gavia pass, the Tonale pass and the Iseo lake.
What see
Its territory, crossed by the Oglio river and almost totally included in the province of Brescia, is commonly divided into the Lower Val Camonica, a flat area that goes from Lake Iseo to Bienno or Soglia di Breno, the Middle Val Camonica, which from the Soglia di Breno extends to the municipalities of Sonico and Edolo, the Upper Val Camonica, which if starting from the Val di Corteno continues up to Ponte di Legno.
Among its main centers, Darfo Boario Terme, Breno, Capo di Ponte, Edolo, Vezza d’Oglio and Ponte di Legno stand out.
Since 1955 a park has been established, the Naquane National Park, for the integral protection and public use of part of the engravings.
Since 1979, the engravings of Valcamonica have become the first Italian Unesco World Heritage site.
