AN UNUSUAL WALK: FROM CROVIANA TO DIMARO MALÉ-CARCIATO: KM. 5.5
Altar in the Church of San Lorenzo
road leads along the even valley floor from Malé in the direction of the Passo Tonale to A Croviana 1.5 km away. The village has a very long history and was an important centre in medieval times because it was here that the tithes paid by the inhabitants of the Val di Sole were collected for the Prince-Bishop of Trent. The Palazzo dei Pèzzen (named after a family of minor nobles who arrived from the Valtellina in the 15th century at the time of a mining boom) is located at the entrance to the village. Next to this stands the Church of San Giorgio (Tel. +39 0463 901192), one of the valley’s treasurechests of art. It contains two very skilfully crafted 17th-century wooden altars, one of which located in the family chapel of the Pèzzen, built and decorated with frescoes in about 1613 by Elia Naurizio. From Croviana a lane leads through the meadows to Monclàssico, 1.5 km away, another old village whose origins lie in the later Iron Age. The village The Custom House at Dimaro
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contains some noble residences, such as that of the Valenti family, and medieval features such as the pòrteghi, (portico) The village houses are overlooked by the Church of San Vigilio (Tel. +39 0463 974158), with its remarkable baroque altars. Monclassico and Presson have in recent years earned national fame as ‘villages of the artistic sundials’ thanks to the ‘Le Meridiane’ (the Sundials) cultural association that together with the municipality and other bodies has been promoting a ‘Sundial Week’ which sees five new works executed each summer. The year 2012 will bring the total of sundials completed to no fewer than fifty. In association with the Val di Sole tourist office, guided ‘Sundial Tours’ are also available between June and September. The stone crests on some of the doorways of Pressón bear witness to the nobility of the families who owned them. The village church dates back to 1630 and contains a side-chapel with a wonderful baroque altar. Across the River Noce lies Dimaro, a kiloThe Church of San Lorenzo metre away, which is an important tourist resort on the road for Campiglio and Val Rendena. La Casa del Dazio (custom house), also the residence of the de Mazzis noble family, was an important stop-off for the payment of excise duties. The Church of San Lorenzo (Tel. +39 0463 974118) contains late 15th-century frescoes, skilfully rendered by the Baschènis, and gilt wooden baroque altars. Recent restoration work has revealed the real age of this early medieval site, already evident from a significant fragment of Carolingian painting located over the door of the sacristy. A walking tour of the town might finish in the small village of Carciàto, a peaceful farming centre near Dimaro with its generously-sized homes and a small church dating from the 15th to the 17th centuries.