Houses of Viso

A beautiful, easily accessible destination is the one that leads from the hamlet of Pezzo in Ponte di Legno to the small, quaint hamlet of Case di Viso. We are north of Ponte di Legno: going up the valley that leads to the Gavia Pass, near Pezzo (last hamlet of Ponte) we turn right and enter the Viso valley. The Viso valley is a typical U-shaped glacial valley whose end is bordered by the Albiolo and Albiolino peaks on which the first line of the Great War ran. Leaving the car after the first hairpin bend that climbs toward Pezzo, from the village you enter following a mule track into an area that alternates between forest and clearings. The presence of the wildlife observatory located a few steps away makes it possible to spot wild animals such as deer, ibex and chamois. Once past the uphill section, the hamlet of Case di Viso begins to be glimpsed. The hamlet is quaint and well known for its houses that retain their original masonry architecture unchanged, for some dating back to the 19th century, and were also the scene of a Nazi reprisal after the September 8 armistice. Case di Viso was once Pezzo's mountain pasture; each family, in the summertime, would go up with their cows (4/5 and no more) to access the grass of the green pastures. The milk that was milked was then given to the turnaround dairies ( for years there were two turnaround dairies), which curdled it and turned it into butter and cheese. This mode of alpine pasturing differed from those practiced in other parts of the Camonica Valley where instead there was either the malga managed by the head of the alp loaded with livestock from different families or the single farmstead similar to the Trentino closed maso where each family cheesed its own milk. Walking among the dwellings one breathes an air of history and art. Once the hamlet is reached, it is possible to follow the path inside it to pass among the dwellings accompanied by the flow of the stream. Past the village, still following the mule track for about 1 kilometer, you reach a well-stocked picnic area.