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Vertemate Franchi Palace It is situated in the Prosto of Piuro locality, within two kilometres from Chiavenna, in the Bregaglia Valley. Built in the sixteenth century by two of the Vertemate brothers, one of the richest families of the small town, it is one of the most prestigious elegant houses of the Lombard area.  It is the only building which survived the landslide of 1618, which submerged the village with lots of its inhabitants. The palace is a very beautiful masterpiece of the Renaissance immersed in a charming environment, which provides real life story of a sixteenth-seventeenth-century aristocratic family. The front of the palace is simple and essential, surrounded by light and functional spaces as well as the Italian garden with the fishpond and the double exedra-shaped ... [read more]

Musei in Valchiavenna La Valchiavenna: bellezze naturali, ricchezza artistica, gastronomica e artigianale. La Valchiavenna è un museo a cielo aperto: è stata fin dall’epoca romana punto di transito verso i paesi del nord e per questo ... [read more] Artists United Over the years a whole host of writers have been inspired enough by our valley and the surroundings peaks to use it as a setting for novels – some linked to actual historical events – others mere flights of fancy. A combination of the two is ... [read more]

The Mill of Bottonera The mill of the former Moro Pasta factory is located in Bottonera, the craftsmen´s area of Chiavenna, built in the 19th  century in the north side of the town. The mills, the paper mill, the power hammer, the two cotton wool factories, the breweries and the Pasta factory in this area, used Mera river waters, through a ...

Museo del Tesoro Il Museo del Tesoro si trova nella suggestiva collegiata di San Lorenzo, complesso risalente probabilmente al V secolo. Il porticato fu realizzato tra il XVII e XVIII  secolo con lo scopo di delimitare il cimitero e per creare uno spazio in cui effettuare le processioni. Sovrasta la collegiata il cinquecentesco ...

A passeggio per il centro di Chiavenna Nel numero 22 di Valchiavenna Vacanze abbiamo ampiamente esaltato la bellezza della primavera, at­traverso le infinite espressioni naturalistiche.  Basta guardarci intorno per notare come i fiori, gli animali e le montagne più in generale testimoniano la rinascita della vita.  Una lettura che ...

Il Museo Storico Etnografico Naturalistico della Val Codera Il Museo Storico Etnografico Naturalistico della Val Codera, istituito nel 1982 su iniziativa dell´Associazione Amici della Val Codera ONLUS, e riconosciuto dalla Regione Lombardia come Raccolta Museale, documenta, come singolare ecomuseo, la particolarità dell´ambiente naturale e della vicenda ...

The old town centre of Chiavenna Along the main street of the old town centre you can notice ancient facades of great charm and considerable importance for the history of Chiavenna, which date back to the sixteenth/seventeenth-century and were recovered thanks to stratigraphic researches. The Caurga An ancient pot stone quarry, used since the ...

Valchiavenna Fire Brigade Historical Gallery The Mese Fire Brigade Detachement, carrying on the Chiavenna Fire Brigade tradition, was founded in 1868 from Chiavenna Municipality as Civic Fire Brigade. It exhibits some fire brigade remains in the Mese headquarters since October 2002. The available items are reorganized in order to give visitors the idea of fire ...

S. Fedelino Church It stands there, silent and lonely for more than a thousand years. It looks at the river Mera flowing over the centuries, in flood, when the river burst its banks increasing moisture in its walls. It stands there, silent and lonely, ready to show its historical and artistical treasures only to the ones who patiently ...

Museum of the Via Spluga and Val San Giacomo A 16th century inn represented the original building (Tavern plus two adjoining floors) known as ‘Palàzz’, rebuilt in 1777 and restored as recently as 2002 becoming the Museum base. The Museum of the Via Spluga bears splendid witness to local history, featuring documents, works of art and literature regarding the ...

Museo di Samolaco Il Museo, allestito nell’ottobre 2008 dall’Associazione Culturale Biblioteca di Samolaco nell’antica torre restaurata dal Comune, Ente proprietario, consiste in 4 piani rialzati più seminterrato. Nato inizialmente come museo fotografico (contiene una serie di pannelli relativi alla storia ...

Museum of Valchiavenna The museum of Valchiavenna is in the Valchiavenna Library, a bit further the Castle Square and close to Paradise archaeological botanical Park. A plastic model represents a part of Pian dei Cavalli important landscape, in Val S. Giacomo, where during excavations campaign, managed by prof. Francesco Fedeli of the ...

Ca Bardassa The building is in Fraciscio of Campodolcino (at 1341 m. above sea level) and it´s called "Bardassa" because of one of its last owners nickname. It belongs to "Comunità Montana della Valchiavenna" and it houses the ethnographic museum of the area, as a well kept witness of mountain ...

Museums and Piuro excavations Museum The museum opened on September 10th 1972 in the Borgonuovo of Piuro school building thanks to the Italian Swiss association for excavations. In 1977 it has been moved to the ´700 parish church, the church of St. Abbondio from Piuro, and from 1994 it was reorganized in the sacristy of the church itself. In ...

Bregaglia terra di artisti Il Pizzo Badile, il Cengalo, il Gruppo Sciora. Cattedrali di granito che s´innalzano verso il cielo limpido della Bregaglia. Opere d´arte naturali che ornano una terra dalla natura rigogliosa e dal paesaggio mozzafiato. Ma non sono gli unici capolavori presenti in Val Bregaglia. Questa valle alpina ha dato i natali ...

Carducci and Madesimo One hundred years ago, 14th July 1901, the municipal council of Isolato, as the Commune of Madesimo was then called, deliberated and unanimously agreed to grant honorary citizenship to the most famous Italian poet, Giosue Carducci, who had decided to spend his summer holidays in that high place. Between 1888 and 1905, ...

Fortification within the Adda basin The book reports on the conference on the Adda fortifications held at Varenna in 2005. Two sections on the Valchiavenna and Valchiavenna defences are of particular interest. Guido Scaramellini focuses on the dismantled local fortifications, whilst architect Graziano Tognini tells of the partial restoration of the ...

Museo del Picapréda A Novate Mezzola, sull´omonimo lago all´imbocco della Valchiavenna, di fronte al Municipio, in Piazza Europa 51/b, è aperto un piccolo museo dove sono raccolte immagini, descritta la storia ed esposti gli attrezzi usati per l´estrazione e la lavorazione del granito Sanfedelino. Il museo è stato istituito per ...

Pretorio Palace The Pretorio Palace is in the town of Chiavenna. Place of meeting of the Municipality of Chiavenna magistracy and then house of the commissioners of the Three Leagues (XVI-XVIII cent.). It´s interesting the crest of Chiavenna in pot stone (of 1619) above the portal with an 18th-century inscription. On the ...

Balbiani Palace The Balbiani Palace, also called the Castle, is in the town of Chiavenna. It appears as a solid block of stone, held between two cylindric towers; the central part of the front is covered by windows set on three different levels. Residence Palace of Balbiani counts, feudal family of Valchiavenna, was built before ...

Chiavenna Squares The present urban settlement of Chiavenna must be traced back to the Middle Ages: "customs" in the post-Carolingian Italian Kingdom, the town is typified by a grand lay-out which made it an important trade junction and place of passage control. Important urban lay-out had then became the "contrade" (from the Latin ...

Pestalozzi - Salis Palace Here, the famous man of letters Ludovico Castelvetro from Modena, lived to escape the Catholic Inquisition and died in 1571.

Pestalozzi Palace Is the Pestalozzi family´s palace: on the ground floor there is a stüa, i.e. a room fully wainscoted, and a large hall painted with frescos.

Palazzo Salis E’ il palazzo principale tra quelli posseduti in Valchiavenna dalla potente famiglia Salis, di origine grigione. Fu costruito a metà del Settecento in stile barocchetto per volere dei Salis, su progetto forse di Pietro Solaris di Bolvedro (Como), mentre gli stucchi e gli affreschi trompe-l’oeil ...