Schilpario where tradition becomes attraction

Schilpario is a town of about 1100 inhabitants located at 1135 meters above sea level between the mountains of the Val di Scalve in the northeast of the province of Bergamo in an area bordering the Val Camonica, Val Seriana and Valtellina. Located at the entrance to a vast fir forest prelude to the Orobiche Bergamasche, due to its environmental and landscape position it is a very popular tourist destination for mountain enthusiasts. One of the symbolic places of the village is the Orrido della Via Mala, a natural fortification dug over the centuries by the river Dezzo, which almost represents a control point for accessing the valley. An activity once linked to these mountains was the extraction of Siderite, a mineral from which, with fusion at over 1500 degrees, iron was obtained. Today the most important testimony of this millenary sector closed definitively in 1972 is constituted by the Gaffione mine which, skilfully restored, makes large tracts of its 60 kilometers of tunnels available to visitors by equipping them with special guides. In the premises of the Vecchio Mulino the Ethnographic Museum has been created, which opens a window on the life and customs of the miners and their families by collecting tools of daily and working life. The main church of the town is the parish of Sant'Antonio da Padova in which the natives of the Schilpario around the world traditionally meet for the triduum of the dead, celebrated fifteen days after Easter. Today the leading sector of the territory is quality tourism. The paths once used for grazing have become roads used for trekking, mountain biking and en plein air excursions, all activities that blend with the old Scalvine traditions for a stay between culture, beauty and nature.