San Giovanni Bianco

The word bianco, white, in the name of San Giovanni Bianco is not just any adjective: it comes from the colour of the limestone formations of the mountains around, which have been the wealth of the place ever since the Romans dug iron here. The village lies where the Val Taleggio opens into the Val Brembana, and for centuries it was an unavoidable passage: through here ran the via Mercatorum towards the upper valley, and later the Venetians took the via Priula through it, the road that went from Bergamo all the way to the Grisons.

From these valleys people emigrated to Venice, where labour from the Brembana was valued because it worked without pause for little money: from that image, they say, was born the mask of Harlequin, the servant able to satisfy two masters at once. In the parish church the relic of the Holy Thorn is kept, said to be a thorn from the crown of Christ: it was brought here by Vistallo Zignoni, a mercenary soldier who lived between the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, to whom the village has dedicated its square and a statue.