A New Park For A New Millennium

The constitution

The Archaeological Park of Seradina-Bedolina, in the territory of Capo di Ponte (Brescia province) within the Valcamonica, has more than 150 engraved rocks covering thousand of years in history.

The area, although known to the scholars since the '30s and even if it has been the subjects of several researches, has been put in the protected area list only in October 2005, thanks to the cooperation among the Capo di Ponte administration, the Archaeological Superintendence and the Centro Camuno di Studi Preistorici.

The unique natural environment

The territory of the park unites several elements of archaeological, geological and naturalistic interest.

Other than a peculiar flora, usually found in warmer climates (a phenomenon due to the particular temperatures in this corner of the Valley), it is possible to observe the imposing rock formations with all their colours, ranging from light-violet to clear blue-grey, the considerable amount of 'pots of the giants' (which cannot be found on the other side of the Valley) and the intricated shapes of the rocks created by the erosive action of Quaternary glaciers.

The Rock Art Of The Park

The Park is located within a wide strip of land on the western side of the middle Valcamonica, between 400 and 600 metres a.s.l., in the territory of Cemmo to the South and Pescarzo to the West (both these villages are within the Capo di Ponte territory).

The park is home to hundreds of engraved rocks and thousands of figures. They were created in different periods, mostly from the Iron Age, without any doubt the best period for the production of rock art in Valcamonica.

The Seradina area

The lower area of Seradina, including the sub areas of Seradina I, II and III and their visiting routes, is mainly characterized by armed human figures from the Iron Age (I millennium B.C.), ploughing scenes (Seradina II, area called 'Corno'), figures of musical instruments identified as 'horns' made of metal during the late prehistoric and Roman Age (Seradina I - area called 'Ronco Felappi'), inscriptions in ancient local alphabet and huts (Seradina II) and, last but not least, circles with rays and intricated 'net' figures (Seradina III).

The Bedolina area

In the small plane above, an area called Bedolina, there are a lot of rocks decorated with 'topographic compositions', among which we can find the famous 'Rock of the Map', known and published together with rock n.12 in Seradina since 1932.

In the Bedolina area there is also the only known 'rosa camuna' of the whole Park. This mysterious sign, now the symbol of the Lombardia region, has become a kind of flag for the rock art of the Valcamonica around the world, especially since it has been put in the World Heritage List in 1979, the first Italian site to deserve such an honour (site n.94 'Rock Drawings of Valcamonica').