ITALY STANDS FOR... UNESCO HERITAGE

Posted by Luisa S., February 11, 2021

Italy boasts 55 World Heritage sites, more than any other country in the world. Its designated cultural and natural landmarks represent over 5% of UNESCO’s global list.

The goal of Unesco is to identify, according to precise criteria, areas, zones and places containing unique characteristics, of particular importance in regards to culture, archaeology, environment or landscape.

Italy’s World Heritage Sites are well-known. The Dolomites; The City of Verona; Ferrara and the Po River Delta; the Historic Centers of San Gimignano, Florence and Rome; Hadrian's Villa and the Villa D’Este at Tivoli; the archaeological area of Pompeii, Herculaneum and Torre Annunziata; the Sassi (rupestrian architecture and churches) of Matera; the Amalfi Coast and the Aeolian Islands are just some among many others.

All 55 sites have been, at one time or another, travel destinations for those seeking out history, art and culture in our country.

Renewed efforts by the Institutes to preserve these sites include the call to everyone to get to know them better. With all this incredible cultural wealth, we invite our clients take a look at the most breathtaking heritage sites the country has to offer; some are world known, some others are very remote and represent hidden gems of the country.

Today we present you the Valle Camonica

Valle Camonica, in the Alpine area of northern Italy, has one of the largest collections of rock engravings in the world, in a site not yet fully explored that extends over an area of 70 kilometers. It represents the first Italian site registered on the UNESCO World Heritage List, in 1979.

Over 140,000 symbols and figures carved into the rock over a period of approximately 8000 years describe themes related to agriculture, navigation, warfare, hunting, magic, but also represent symbolic geometric figures.

The first traces of man in Valle Camonica date back to at least thirteen thousand years ago, when the area was affected by a first human presence following the melting of the glaciers, but only with the advent of the Neolithic (V ° -IV ° millennium BC ) the first inhabitants settled permanently in the valley. Some anthropomorphic figures (the so-called "prayers", schematic human beings with their arms facing upwards) and certain "topographical representations" are traditionally traced back to this phase.

Accessibility: Approx 110/120km from both Milan Linate and Verona Airport.

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