Val Camonica Rock Art

Glaciers left smooth sandstone surfaces along this valley, and people carved on them from roughly the eighth millennium BC into Roman times, producing an estimated one hundred and forty thousand figures across hundreds of sites: hunting scenes, ploughing, huts, wagons, weapons, praying figures with raised arms, duels and a compass-drawn rose. The rock was pecked with harder stone or metal points, and figures overlap across millennia on the same surface. It became Italy's first UNESCO World Heritage site in 1979. Several separate archaeological parks cover different sections, with Naquane at Capo di Ponte the largest.

What you'll find

• The Naquane park - the largest concentration of carved surfaces.
• The overlapping figures - millennia of carving on the same rock.
• The praying figures - raised-arm human forms repeated across the valley.
• The scenes - hunting, ploughing, wagons, duels and buildings.

When to go

April to October; carvings show best in low raking light, morning or late afternoon, and are hard to see at midday. Rain makes the rock slippery.

Good to know

Carvings are shallow and can be difficult to make out in flat light. Sites are scattered across several parks with separate tickets. Paths are uneven.

Nearby

Lake Iseo lies south; the Stelvio park is north.