Naquane National Rock Art Park

Valcamonica Rock Art As a World Heritage Site

Logo of Unesco-World Heritage ListIn 1979 UNESCO decided to include Valcamonica rock art into the World Heritage List. Mankind must protect and preserve these architectural, archaeological and natural sites for their universal value.

Valcamonica deserved such an honour thanks to the wealth of its rock art heritage, unmatched anywhere in the world. These engravings were carved thousands of years ago by the ancient dwellers of the valley on the rocks that we still admire today.

Naquane, a National Park

View on Naquane and the Pizzo Badile mountain, Capo di Ponte (Valcamonica)The National Rock Art Park is but a drop in the ocean of Valcamonica engravings (hundreds of thousands according to the experts). There are several areas involved at different levels. The occasional engravings that can be found anywhere between 200 and 2000 metres above sea level along the 70 km of the Valley are the prelude to the areas where there are concentrations of hundreds of engraved rocks. These areas are considered by someone as 'prehistoric sanctuaries'.

One of the most renowned zone is Naquane, 500 metres above sea level, within the Capo di Ponte territory.

The forward-looking lobbying of solitary scholars (since the beginning of the last century) lead the Italian State (in 1955, through the then superintendent Mario Mirabella Roberti) to create the National Park to protect the engravings and allow the public access to the main and most spectacular area. In its perimeter there are 103 engraved rocks scattered within 60 hectares of woodland on the left side of the middle Valcamonica (gallery).

An inspiring walk into the past

Schools visiting the Naquane National Rock Art Park, Capo di Ponte (Valcamonica)The park is just 500 meters above sea level, giving its surrounding a quiet hilly look in spite of being surrounded by mountains reaching the 2500 meters above sea level (Pizzo Badile camuno and Concarena).

On the hill of Naquane the paths wind up and down a shady wood. The hill is home to a well kept population of birches, ash trees, chestnut trees, firs and larches protecting the precious, ancient rocks with their branches.

The Mountains Crowning The Middle Valcamonica

Capo di Ponte (Valcamonica): the Pizzo Badile Camuno mountainThe Naquane hill becomes a gentle promontory on the left side of the middle Valcamonica and offers a great view of two of its best alpine portraits: the Pizzo Badile Camuno and the Concarena , both around 2500 metres high.

Capo di Ponte (Valcamonica): the Concarena mountainShaped like a pyramid the former and a big fan the latter, the two mountains face each other from opposite sides of the valley underneath. During the equinoxes (March the 21st, September the 21st) there are two breathtaking moments when the sun rays create in the sky a fascinating and peculiar light condition where the profiles of the mountains, projected on a natural screen by the rays of the rising or setting sun, seem to double...

Capo di Ponte (Valcamonica): equinox over Pizzo BadileCapo di Ponte (Valcamonica): equinozio sulla Concarena