Monday, wednesday and sunday: 9-12.30 am
Friday: 3.00-6.00 pm
Saturday: 9-12.30 am, 3.00-6.00 pm
Tuesday and thursday: closed
This small museum at Novate Mezzola is located at the mouth of Valchiavenna near the lake. It’s in the Piazza Europa and houses a collection of photographs, accounts of local history and a display of implements used in the extraction and working of Sanfedelino granite.
The museum was created to commemorate a particularly important part of Novate Mezzola’s history. For around two centuries the main activity of the population was that of "picapréda".or stone mason. Generations extracted and worked the local Sanfedelino, so-called because of the situation of the first quarries (in the 1780’s) behind the famous 10th C. temple built in honour of the martyr Fedele.
The granite was primarily destined to pave city roads and squares and it has been calculated that in the five years preceding the First World War more than 82,000 tons of worked granite traveled from the Novate Mezzola railway station to Milan, Piacenza, Modena, Reggio Emilia and especially Bologna.
As cities became more tram and car-orientated the most important period for granite extraction was in the 20/30’s of the last century. At that time there were up to 20 quarries hard at work. In more recent times there has been a slow but inevitable decline and currently only one quarry is active.
OPENING HOURS 2023 Sunday: 14.30-17.30 on reservation Private visits by arrangement with the Comune di Novate Mezzola. |
Contacts
For information:
Comune di Novate Mezzola T: F: info@comune.novatemezzola.so.it www.comune.novatemezzola.so.it |
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