traditions Archives | Ecomuseo Bianzone

40 YEARS OF OLD AGE

ecomuseo — Sun, 26 Apr 2026 19:17:02 UTC

Forty years of meetings, outings, solidarity and, above all, friendship. The association “Third Age Beautiful Age” celebrated Tuesday 21 April its 40th anniversary. For the occasion, 64 members (out of a total of 105) gathered at the La Gatta estate for a convivial lunch of typical Valtellina specialities, marking a moment of profound unity for the local community.

A story born in 1986
President Salvatore Scordari, visibly emotional, retraced the steps of a journey that began in 1986, when he had just arrived in the village and accepted the challenge of leading the group, encouraged by his wife Claudia Mevio and his new Valtellina friends. In his speech, Scordari paid tribute to the founding members, delivering a gift to those present and to the families of those who are no longer with us.

Among the names remembered with warm applause were the founders Igino Ronchi, Iolanda Castelanelli, Bruna Garzetti, Laura Nemesi, Stella Augugliaro, Alberto Giudice, Franco Paggi, Erica Zucchetti and Marisa Delle Coste.

Special recognition also went to the current Board staff - Bruna Fiorina, Franca Gosatti, Loretta Caligari, Renato Gusmeroli and Riccarda Negrini - tireless driver of association activities.

The value of wisdom
Bringing greetings from the municipal administration was Deputy Mayor Luana Dorsa, who read a speech focusing on the profound meaning of the “Third Age”. “You are valuable to our community“he began, emphasising that the association is a
example of “continuous becoming” capable of uniting different generations through the desire to be together. The deputy mayor also praised the vitality of the members, mentioning the association's internal walking group.

Projects for tomorrow
Despite the important anniversary, the gaze is already turned to the future. President Scordari expressed the hope that the openness towards young people and others in the country, which has started in recent years, can be further consolidated. “Sbut for new people to join
to us with new enthusiasm and new ideas” concluded the president, symbolically making an appointment for everyone to meet in ten years' time to celebrate the association's half-century anniversary together.

Archive photo by Igino Ronchi and Franca Gosatti

Photo of 21 April 2026 by Franca Gosatti

L'articolo 40 ANNI DI TERZA ETÀ proviene da Ecomuseo Bianzone.

SPRING IN BIANZONE!

ecomuseo — Fri, 03 Apr 2026 10:05:48 +0000

Spring has arrived and April has begun with the classic end-of-winter season frosts. In Bianzone, as in other municipalities in Valtellina, it is a tradition to activate the anti-freeze system on apple orchards. But what does it consist of?

Plants put into operation during the coldest hours protect the buds and blossoms of the apple trees. The thin ice veil that forms prevents frost from decimating production. It is an effective system that has saved apple production several times over the past 25 years.

The frost protection system consists of activating the irrigation systems, which, equipped with special nozzles, wet the plants by creating a thin protective layer of ice water that preserves the plant's warmth and protects the most exposed parts, preventing them from being damaged by even lower temperatures.

In the winter period, which is longer in Valtellina than in lowland orchards, apple trees are able to withstand temperatures below zero even by several degrees, but they become particularly sensitive to the resumption of the vegetative phase, close to blossoming or after the new leaflets have emerged. Under these conditions, a sudden drop in temperature risks compromising fruit production and the final harvest.

In the area of Bianzone and Villa di Tirano, the best-known and most popular apple varieties are produced: from the Golden, to the Stark Delicious, Gala e Fuji. The Valtellina apple-growing area stretches down from Grosotto (the highest apple orchard is at 700 metres) to Piateda and even further down, past the main town Sondrio: in all, a stretch of around 40 kilometres that runs along the main valley. To these is added the separate and much more circumscribed area of Postalesio and Talamona in the lower valley.

Images taken from:

Stock photos from 2013 of glimpses of Via Guarnelle, Seal La Gatta and Contrada Selva by Vanda Cerveri
Photo of 28 March 2026 at Madonna del Piano of frozen apple orchards

TIP: For further information go to the site Earth is Life and read the interview by Gian Piero Menghina, resident in Bianzone and owner of the’Azienda Agricola Menghina

L'articolo PRIMAVERA A BIANZONE! proviene da Ecomuseo Bianzone.

PRESCHOOL PARTY

ecomuseo — Thu, 12 Mar 2026 21:33:04 +0000

As is tradition, the Pro-kindergarten Committee organises a day of celebration for the G. Mascioni Kindergarten in Bianzone. For 76 years, our kindergarten has welcomed and educated the children of the village. The kindergarten is located in a historic building, the Confortola palace, in the town centre. But whose credit is it due to? Who directed it? Who attended it? Two booklets produced in the early 2000s can be consulted to answer the various questions:

- School and family - 50 years together to educate

- Evolution of a community - Bianzone Nursery School from 1951 to 2008

Within the first volume is an article written by the then Don Bruno Rocca which explained the principles on which the school was founded and which inspire it even now:

A benefactor who decides to leave a mark in memory of his father. “Not flowers but good works”....
A Kindergarten that came into being because a population wanted it....to give them a suitable educational environment where through play they could learn to socialise and learn the rules of life.
A kindergarten that works because the population is always active and participative......a community that wants to run its own kindergarten and is there to make it as beautiful and efficient as its own home.
A very strong social sense, a pronounced sense of right but also of corresponding duty, a habit of personal commitment and dedication without delegating to the “boss” on duty, I would also dare say a local legislation that is particularly attentive to demanding free services in particular situations and moments: reading the old statutes of our countries from this point of view is particularly instructive.
To whom do you entrust the kindergarten? To the Sisters and after them to the G. Mascioni Nursery School Foundation One entrusts one's children to those who are “experts in humanity” because they have made a gift of their lives. Education, but also School, is not first and foremost the fruit of increasingly sophisticated techniques and means, but first and foremost of testimonies. One educates by loving, by loving, by listening....

Sunday 22 March 2026 Once again the community will come together to celebrate the school and those who attend it on a daily basis.

At 10:00 it starts with the Holy Mass at the Church of St. Syrus.

At 12:00 lunch at the Omar and Pietro sports centre.

This is followed by children's entertainment and the traditional lottery.

L'articolo FESTA DELLA SCUOLA DELL’INFANZIA proviene da Ecomuseo Bianzone.

A DISH THAT IS GOOD FOR YOU: DE DUMEGA SOUP

ecomuseo — Sat, 28 Feb 2026 16:27:49 +0000

?A dish that does good! Minestra de dumèga is a typical dish from the peasant tradition, poor but rich in nutritional properties to the extent that it is a “complete meal”. For more than twenty years, during the Lenten period, a group of women and men skilled in the kitchen have been making themselves available to prepare barley soup that locals and non-residents, by reservation, take home or consume directly in the oratory. The initiative stems from the idea of sharing a poor dinner during the 3 Fridays before Easter and raising funds for the parish and missions with the active involvement of the population.

?Friday 6, 13 and 20 March 2026

Soup will be distributed starting at 6 p.m., but there is also the possibility of staying for dinner at the Bianzone oratory starting at 7 p.m.

?The cost of the take-away portion is 5 euro, and for dinner in the oratory 13 euro.

?For those unable to collect directly, home delivery will be made.

?For bookings, please contact:

- Bruna 3495937804

- Pink 3483020913

- Letizia 3280974870

Photos of the 2024-2025 initiative by Maria Rosa Lorenzi and Franca Gosatti

For more on barley cultivation in Bianzone read Vanda Cerveri's article: 1940s/’50s: Growing bears

L'articolo UN PIATTO CHE FA BENE: LA MINESTRA DE DUMEGA proviene da Ecomuseo Bianzone.

OLYMPIC CARNIVAL PARADE

ecomuseo — Sat, 14 Feb 2026 17:17:51 +0000

Sunday 22 February at 2 p.m. the traditional Carnival parade will be held, starting from Piazza Vanoni.

Led by the float group of the Associazione Futura Bianzone APS, participants will parade along the village streets to the sound of music.

This year's theme will obviously be the Olympics, which are also taking place in Valtellina these days and to which Bianzone is linked thanks to Nino Bible, the first Italian gold medallist at the Winter Olympics who was born in Bianzone in 1922 and to whom an article was dedicated on the old Ecomuseo website.

Carnival is a cherished tradition in the village, as can be seen in some of the attached period photos (early 2000s, 2011, 2015, 2016, 2024 and 2025) that enhances the territory and the people who inhabit it.

L'articolo SFILATA DI CARNEVALE OLIMPICA proviene da Ecomuseo Bianzone.

Tour of cribs

ecomuseo — Sat, 03 Jan 2026 15:22:41 +0000

Saturday 3 January at 2 p.m. at the Omar and Pietro Sports Centre, departure for a tour of some of Bianzone's nativity scenes and arrival at the oratory.

L'articolo Giro dei presepi proviene da Ecomuseo Bianzone.

NEW YEAR'S EVE

ecomuseo — Wed, 31 Dec 2025 19:51:33 +0000

It's New Year's Eve. We greet 2025 with photos taken on 31 December 2020 when the greatest wish for the new year was to make the covid disappear.

But have you ever wondered what people did in our countries 100 years ago?

Here is a testimony written by Vanda Cerveri:

BIANZONE, 1950s: New Year's Eve in the barn

Flash back of a life lived: “Gh'è temp, gh'è temp..” (there is time, there is time..)

“Stasira am specia l'an noef, sa fa festa e sa va a lec’ tardi” (Tonight we wait for the new year, we party and we go to bed late) is the phrase I hear repeated already in the morning.

I also really like the idea because in my house we usually go to bed almost immediately after eating soup and the word 'feast' is only uttered when talking about Sundays or other days when there is mass.

The day is longer than usual because I can't wait for dark. And darkness finally arrives. We all have dinner together and, strangely, my mum doesn't insist as usual that I eat more. My brothers are already grown up and go off on their own. They say they will go around the country with partners (friends) to stop the old year.

Preparations are made.

In the scoss (which is the apron without a bib, tied at the waist and held up by the flaps), the mother puts a few apples, some pears, a few walnuts, a few bunches of white grapes with small berries that are good, she says, if you eat them on New Year's Eve, and some brasciadeli (dry bread doughnuts).

I bring my nice little magazine, the gift that the Baby Jesus brought me because my teacher called Lidia told him I did well at school.

The father goes to the cellar to fill al lìtru (a pot-bellied, white and blue earthenware jug) with good wine, the older one that, as he often says, al fa resuscità anca i mòort, kept in a separate cask. He also takes some luganeghi (dried sausages) and a piece of cheese from the old one.

Then, with a large woollen shawl over our shoulders and holding each other tightly, we go together, almost in a hurry because of the bitter cold, to our stable, a rustic room without windows, long and narrow with walls blackened by the years, where there is always a nice warmth due to the presence of the cows and other animals.

One enters trying to quickly close the door to keep out the cold and then sits on top of a pile of straw. The air is very humid and stale. Even though it's impregnated with the typical smell of manure, it doesn't bother me because, as Mum says, it's completely natural.

At the back of the barn are the two cows tied to the manger. They are already lying down and ruminating continuously. They seem to be eating fag. When they turn towards us, they stop chewing for a moment and remain motionless. But as soon as their dad turns to them, calling them by name: “Hey, Bionda tranquila, l'è tut a post...”. “Bucc, che ma cùntat? Éh?”, they calm down and resume moving their mouths with the usual rhythm.

The little calf, a little further on, can't keep still, gets up, lies down, and then gets up again, looks at me and seems to want to communicate something to me. I then approach him, tell him to be quiet, stroke him a little and he slowly goes back to lying down.

In one corner is the très (small plank fence) with the ciùn (pig) that I can never get a good look at except when I let my dad lift me up to look down. What I like most about my ciùn is its curly tail. Even if I can't see him, every now and then I hear him, grunf ... grunf ... approaching the truogolo to noisily sip some of his colubbia (slop), spraying it all over the place, even over the slats.

Above the mugèl de la gràsa (pile of day-old manure) the hens perch, motionless, on horizontal poles fixed to the wall. Every now and then, however, one or the other loses its balance, bumping into the nearest one and creating general mayhem. I am amused by their acrobatics to regain their places and sadistically stand there waiting to watch them fall en masse onto the manure, but each time I am disappointed because, almost as if by magic, after so much turmoil and uproar, everything comes together again.

I leaf through the Corrierino dei piccoli, although the dim light of the too-dirty bulb does not allow me to read much. Mum, as always, makes socks and dad fixes the "stropi" (shoulder straps) of the basket, he always finds something to do even in the stable.

“Ueih, ga siif? Am sa scià!” (Are you there? We are there!)

The door opens ajar and the father: “Vignin a la quick! Serì fo subit que li vachi i ciapa frec’ e dopu adiu lac’!” (Enter quickly. Close quickly otherwise the cows will catch cold and afterwards goodbye milk!)

They are the neighbours: the Rosa Ciapèta, at Lurenzin, the Delina Peciàta, the Mighina Peregascia, at Gim. They sit with us on the straw. They too have brought something to eat. La Rosa lays a wrapper on an del scagn de mulsc (milking stool) that intrigues me.

He removes the mantìn (napkin) and some beautiful loaves of bread with figs and walnuts appear, fresh from the oven, or better still warm from the oven, which really makes my mouth water! I reach out my hand to take a piece. “Gh'è temp, gh'è temp .. (There's time, there's time)” they all say to me in chorus. And the Rose covers all that goodness. To take my mind off it, I immerse myself in the pictures in my comic book and talk a little with the comic characters.

At a certain point the tones of voices become heated.

They talk about the Bratta road they are building and the problems there have been because of the route. My dad often repeats that he is among those who have had to lose the most ground.

“Bloody hell, I've passed with two bends on my side, and I've been left with a good bit of field and then, if you'd gone to Sundri to complain, there would have been three bends!’

(For crying out loud, they passed with two bends on my property and took away a big chunk of my field and then, if I didn't go to Sondrio to complain, there were three bends)

“However, with the road no(v)a,” he adds immediately afterwards, "adès an pol purtà a cà al fee e li tartifuli multu mèi di prima, perché li vachi li fa(v)a trop fadiga a tira su al car da li Guarnèli.”

(But with the new road, you can now bring home the hay and potatoes much better than before, because the cows had too much trouble pulling the cart up from Via Guarnelle)

I immediately put the magazine aside and settle down well in the straw. I like to hear the grown-ups talking. The evening gets livelier and livelier with the discussions of the men, who between breaks have a drink of wine, passing the lìtru from one to the other. Yes, they are always the ones holding court.

The women barely manage to get into their conversations and, as soon as they mention something, they are immediately silenced because “quisti i’ è robi de um e miga de femni” (these are things for men, not women). So they chat a little among themselves.

I, however, only listen to men.

I enjoy watching them argue because they get angry, make funny faces, gesticulate, move, stand up and sit down all the time ...

The past few years of war is always the most talked about topic.

A glance at the speakers and one at the buscèi cui fich... I try not to miss a single word. Their speeches become more and more detailed, they become imaginative, and I, with my imagination, slowly become the protagonist in their stories ...

And so I run away with the partisans into the mountains, I climb with the Jews towards the pass, I stumble, I fall, I get back up.... I run with the fascists pursued by the partisans ... I hear the Germans firing, I see the plane bombing the station of Bianzone, I hear the moans of the teacher shot dead ... I am there with her, I scream, I try to escape, but someone holds me back and I can't, I can't even shout anymore ... I hear my name repeated ...

I open my eyes and ... and thank goodness!!! I see my mother wishing me a Happy New Year and telling me to get up because we have to go to “mass first”. I look around and realise with relief that I am in my bed.

“But... ‘l buscèl?..the new year... the party??”

“Last night you fell asleep in the stable, ta sé propi la durmentuna! On the table down in the kitchen there's a nice buscelin all for you. The party? When it's peaceful and healthy and you're well together, it's always a party!”

Mum opens the doors. It is snowing outside and I am happy.

A NOTEBOOK OF THE TIME READS:

“[...] on the last evening of the year, in Bianzone, it was customary to put woods, stones, pins, wire, carts, trestles, bundles of wood and other things across the streets. This was done in an attempt to stop the year that was leaving.

Some good-for-nothings, always on the last evening of the year, would go into some stable, detach one beast and lead it to another far away from there. Thus the two stable masters would find one with one more beast and the other with one less.

The beast coming out of the stable symbolises the old year departing and the beast entering, the new year arriving”.

Happy 2026 from the members of the Ecomuseo of the Rhaetian Terraces in Bianzone

L'articolo CAPODANNO DI UNA VOLTA proviene da Ecomuseo Bianzone.

FEAST OF S. ANNA YESTERDAY AND TODAY

ecomuseo — Sun, 27 Jul 2025 20:10:37 +0000

S. Anna YESTERDAY - video by Don Cirillo

The first photographic evidence dates back to the time of Don Cyril.

Years ago, several films made by the parish priest of Bratta between 1960 and 1971 were brought to light and made accessible with new video tools.

We leave you the link so you can watch them and, who knows, maybe even see some of your relatives or friends again:

- S.Anna 1960

- S.Anna 1964

- S.Anna 1971

S. Anna TODAY - 27 July 2025

After having taken a trip back in time, now it is the turn of the photos of the feast of St Anne today, which is still felt by the inhabitants of Bianzone and which also welcomes people from neighbouring villages. As per tradition, the day begins with Holy Mass at the Church of Saints Anne and Joachim at 11 a.m. to continue with lunch at the sprimary schools and ending with a tombola, all to the sound of music.

L'articolo FESTA DI S. ANNA IERI E OGGI proviene da Ecomuseo Bianzone.

LIBRO ‘QUANDO VOLAVANO LE LUCCIOLE’

ecomuseo — Wed, 08 Sep 2021 18:30:23 +0000

The new book by Vanda Cerveri entitled “When fireflies flew”. The work, divided into two volumes, traces the history and daily life of the area from the expulsion of the Grisons to the present day, with a special focus on the last century. Unlike his previous work, ‘From One Hail Mary to Another’ based only on archive documents, this book is based on the historical memory and personal memories, being more emotionally charged. The author describes a past society that, while living in a subsistence economy and in misery, did not perceive poverty as shameful and practised mutual aid.

The text evokes difficult times, marked by pandemics (such as cholera and Spanish flu) and the tragedies of world wars. It dwells in particular on the past century marked by profound changes with the advent of progress that facilitated people's lives and accessibility on the one hand, but disrupted the natural habitat of yesteryear on the other.

The book is enriched with numerous photographs that help to bear witness to the past.

The title and subtitle (“Lights and Shadows”) recall the alternation between dark and serene moments in people's lives; fireflies represent small lights that soften the darkness.

L'articolo LIBRO ‘QUANDO VOLAVANO LE LUCCIOLE’ proviene da Ecomuseo Bianzone.

IMPARA L’ARTE E METTILA DA PARTE

ecomuseo — Wed, 26 Sep 2012 19:28:25 +0000

Until the 1950s, the voices, sounds and gestures of the various trades filled the courtyards and districts.

Doing and work understood as direct interaction between man and nature expressed a sense of existence in which each person felt himself to be the creator and participant in his own world, unlike today, when we feel less and less like participants, responsible and “actors” in the reality that surrounds us, but only frequenters and users.

As part of the ecomuseum project: “Mapping Bianzone”schoolchildren, with the project “Learn art and put it aside” discovered the old trades that were carried out in the village in the past, they learnt the gestures and got to know the tools and processes, with the help of experts and people who made themselves available. The year-long work led to the creation of a “Vocabulary of tools of the trade”and, at the beginning of the school year following the organisation ofthe ‘crafts corners” in the garden of Palazzetto Besta.

Luciana Colombini, a primary school teacher, writes as follows:

It was an open-air workshop where the children, appropriately disguised, individually or in groups, performed the ancient crafts that once characterised Bianzone.
The cobbler, the locksmith, the farrier, the carpenter, the farmer are the most classic, but there was no shortage of those who sharpened knives and scythes, those who made brooms, those who cut wood, those who raked the hay, who filava, who carded. There were also the hawkers such as the chimney-sweeper, the umbrella-sweeper, the ragman, the tinsmith, funny and curious characters who lent themselves well to being played and who once carried out their task by wandering around the villages.

È status It was nice to see how passionately the children imitated the ancient gestures, and it was even nicer to see some parents or grandparents sitting nearby trying to teach the “tricks of the trade”.
In fact, the message with this project is once again to recover the past in order to learn about our own traditions that are unfortunately disappearing.

With this image, which someone in the audience described as “a painting”, ends this pleasant day that exalted taste and art in its various forms and made the older participants relive pleasant moments from their past.

The illustrated vocabulary of old trades is available at the Ecomuseo office and the City Hall.

L'articolo IMPARA L’ARTE E METTILA DA PARTE proviene da Ecomuseo Bianzone.