Cornetti Historic Centre

Site overview

Cornetti di Balme (Li Cournàt) is among the highest permanently inhabited settlements in the Lanzo Valleys, sitting at 1,446 metres. It is also one of the few villages that has preserved its original layout, as it was spared from the demolitions caused by the construction of the carriageable road.

The small hamlet existed as early as the 13th century, when groups of miners and blacksmiths from Bergamasque and Valsesian backgrounds settled here, similar to other areas in the Lanzo Valleys, to work in the iron mines.

The settlement grew gradually over the centuries, and it remains possible to see the oldest houses in the hamlet’s centre, characterised by their deeply sunken stables and ground-level windows, which served as protection against the cold, allowing residents to live alongside their livestock during the long winter.

Houses constructed after the 17th century, when the decline of mining prompted a shift to agriculture, are taller and feature long balconies used for drying cereals. These cereals are often harvested before fully ripening due to the high altitude.

The hamlet’s lanes (quintàness) are narrow and winding, offering protection from wind and blizzards, while the sloping roofs, covered with heavy stone slabs, provide shelter from heavy snowfall.

The core of the hamlet is the small square called the Airàtta (a tiny threshing floor), where cereals were once threshed and the tavern used to be, later turned into a grocery store. One house displays the coat of arms of the Castagneri family, still the most common surname in Balme, which features a chestnut tree, sometimes paired with the Latin motto pasco bonos pungoque malos (“I nourish the good and prick the wicked’), referencing the spiny husk of the chestnut.

In one of the lanes, you can still see the sign of the cobbler, where mountaineers would go to have extra nails added to their boots before tackling the most demanding climbs.