Capo di Ponte and
the rocks carvings
Rock carvings may not be to everybody’s taste but The Camonica valley has the Europe’s highest concentration of carvings in Europe.
When visited they reveal a rich history and insight into the life of Stoneage man Covering an area of 70 sq km’s and with a museum, guided tours and self guided walks you can step back in time to the days before pollution, deforestation, and overpopulation and most of the wild bears, cats and boars are no longer a threat too.
Capo di Ponte and
the rocks carvings
Rock carvings may not be to everybody’s taste but The Camonica valley has the Europe’s highest concentration of carvings in Europe.
When visited they reveal a rich history and insight into the life of Stoneage man Covering an area of 70 sq km’s and with a museum, guided tours and self guided walks you can step back in time to the days before pollution, deforestation, and overpopulation and most of the wild bears, cats and boars are no longer a threat too.
Capo di Ponte is an Italian town in the Val Camonica, province of Brescia.
It has just over 2000 inhabitants and has a railway station on the Brescia-Iseo- Boario–Edolo line.
The town is part of the Valcamonica rock engraving system as it has on its territory, in addition to the largest concentration of carvings in Europe, there are three parks and a museum. Due to it’s historical value it is a Unesco World Heritage site
HOW TO GET TO CAPO DI PONTE
Capo di Ponte can be reached by car, train and bus.
Train info: https://www.thetrainline.com/en/stations/capo-di-ponte
ROCKS CARVINGS
The CARVINGS are representations of scenes of daily life dating back to prehistoric times. In Valle Camonica the largest collection of engravings in all of Europe is kept, of about 300,000.
Rock art developed in Val Camonica between the end of the Upper Paleolithic (about 13,000 years ago) and the Iron Age, but then continued also in the Roman, medieval and modern times. In Valcamonica there are eight parks in this regard, where you can admire the wonderfully preserved signs of an ancient civilization and immerse yourself in nature and culture at the same time.
NAQUANE ROCK CARVINGS NATIONAL PARK
The best known park and in which most of the petroglyphs are preserved: Naquane is located in Capo di Ponte, more precisely in the locality of the same name, located on the side of a vast hill on the slopes of Pizzo Badile Camuno. It was built in 1955 with the aim of protecting and enhancing one of the most important engraving complexes in Val Camonica, recognized by UNESCO as a world heritage site.
It covers almost 150 thousand square meters and inside it houses 104 sandstone rocks smoothed by glaciers, engraved with some of the best-known representations of the Valle Camonica rock art repertoire.
For info and times: http://www.archeocamuni.it/naquane_informazioni.html (in Italian)
ROCK 1
Also known as the ”Great Rock”, the most important within the vast corpus that the Naquane Park offers is Rock 1, which can be dated between the end of the Bronze Age and the beginning of the Iron Age.
There are several engravings that adorn the surface, among the most important is the one depicting the theme of the labyrinth. Alongside appear, among others, two armed figures, engaged in a duel and tied by one leg, and a water bird. The set of figures recalls the Ludus Troiae, a test of skill performed during the funeral games played by the young Trojans to commemorate Aeneas’ father, Anchises, and described by Virgil in the Aeneid.
ROUTES
The Park is inserted in a natural setting of birch, ash, chestnut, larch and fir trees, with five routes that wind for about 3 kilometers along easily passable paths. The visitor, depending on the time available and interest, can opt for a quick visit (about an hour), or for a more thorough visit that can last longer. The complete visit of all the itineraries takes about 4 hours. The rocks are numbered and indicated by signs so as to illustrate the main themes of the engraved figures.
ORANGE (674 meters)
- Rock 1: i telai, il labirinto, le palette
- Rock 50: gli oranti, il cavaliere, il grande guerriero, le iscrizioni
GREEN (310 meters)
- Rock 70: il “Dio Cernunnos”
- Rock 73: l’edificio
BLUE (547 meters)
- Rock 23: il carro
- Rock 35: il c.d. “sacerdote che corre”
RED (360 meters)
- Rock 57: l’edificio
PURPLE (840 meters)
- Rock 60
ATTENTION: this itinerary, for safety reasons, is closed to the public and is accessible only to scholars, upon written request to the Regional Directorate of Museums of Lombardy.
Capo di Ponte is an Italian town in the Val Camonica, province of Brescia.
It has just over 2000 inhabitants and has a railway station on the Brescia-Iseo- Boario–Edolo line.
The town is part of the Valcamonica rock engraving system as it has on its territory, in addition to the largest concentration of carvings in Europe, there are three parks and a museum. Due to it’s historical value it is a Unesco World Heritage site
HOW TO GET TO CAPO DI PONTE
Capo di Ponte can be reached by car, train and bus.
Train info: https://www.thetrainline.com/en/stations/capo-di-ponte
ROCKS CARVINGS
The CARVINGS are representations of scenes of daily life dating back to prehistoric times. In Valle Camonica the largest collection of engravings in all of Europe is kept, of about 300,000.
Rock art developed in Val Camonica between the end of the Upper Paleolithic (about 13,000 years ago) and the Iron Age, but then continued also in the Roman, medieval and modern times. In Valcamonica there are eight parks in this regard, where you can admire the wonderfully preserved signs of an ancient civilization and immerse yourself in nature and culture at the same time.
NAQUANE ROCK CARVINGS NATIONAL PARK
The best known park and in which most of the petroglyphs are preserved: Naquane is located in Capo di Ponte, more precisely in the locality of the same name, located on the side of a vast hill on the slopes of Pizzo Badile Camuno. It was built in 1955 with the aim of protecting and enhancing one of the most important engraving complexes in Val Camonica, recognized by UNESCO as a world heritage site.
It covers almost 150 thousand square meters and inside it houses 104 sandstone rocks smoothed by glaciers, engraved with some of the best-known representations of the Valle Camonica rock art repertoire.
For info and times: http://www.archeocamuni.it/naquane_informazioni.html (in Italian)
ROCK 1
Also known as the ”Great Rock”, the most important within the vast corpus that the Naquane Park offers is Rock 1, which can be dated between the end of the Bronze Age and the beginning of the Iron Age.
There are several engravings that adorn the surface, among the most important is the one depicting the theme of the labyrinth. Alongside appear, among others, two armed figures, engaged in a duel and tied by one leg, and a water bird. The set of figures recalls the Ludus Troiae, a test of skill performed during the funeral games played by the young Trojans to commemorate Aeneas’ father, Anchises, and described by Virgil in the Aeneid.
ROUTES
The Park is inserted in a natural setting of birch, ash, chestnut, larch and fir trees, with five routes that wind for about 3 kilometers along easily passable paths. The visitor, depending on the time available and interest, can opt for a quick visit (about an hour), or for a more thorough visit that can last longer. The complete visit of all the itineraries takes about 4 hours. The rocks are numbered and indicated by signs so as to illustrate the main themes of the engraved figures.
ORANGE (674 meters)
- Rock 1: i telai, il labirinto, le palette
- Rock 50: gli oranti, il cavaliere, il grande guerriero, le iscrizioni
GREEN (310 meters)
- Rock 70: il “Dio Cernunnos”
- Rock 73: l’edificio
BLUE (547 meters)
- Rock 23: il carro
- Rock 35: il c.d. “sacerdote che corre”
RED (360 meters)
- Rock 57: l’edificio
PURPLE (840 meters)
- Rock 60
ATTENTION: this itinerary, for safety reasons, is closed to the public and is accessible only to scholars, upon written request to the Regional Directorate of Museums of Lombardy.
