At Gianico, between St Martin's day and Christmas, the vicinia still hands out salt, free of charge, to every head of household: the right belongs to the native families, by strictly patrilineal descent, and anyone who leaves the village loses it. It is the living remnant of a medieval institution that Venice deliberately propped up, backing the vicinie of local families in order to cut down the feudal clans of the Val Camonica, the Federici first among them. The village had been bought in 1248 by the Guelph commune of Brescia from those same Ghibelline Federici, and it separated from Darfo only in 1788.
Gianico's other story is water. The settlement rests on the alluvial fan of two torrents, and in 1470 a flood carried away more than a hundred people. In 1536, with another flood at the door, the inhabitants made a vow: from it came the sanctuary of the Madonnina del Monte, where a bonfire is still lit on 7 September and where every ten years the Funsciù fills the houses with branches and thousands of paper flowers.
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📅 Every year, on 29 September
On 29 September Gianico celebrates Saint Michael the Archangel; the village also preserves the sanctuary of the Madonna del Monte, destination of an old procession.
Straight-line distances from the town centre. Tap a point to open its page.
The closest destinations covered by our editors, with straight-line distance.
