Themed thread
Tourism before tourism
Churches built in the eighteenth century for people coming from elsewhere.
That these valleys live on tourism is well known; that they already did in the eighteenth century is something you discover by looking at the churches. Three of those gathered here were not built for the village people but for those who arrived, and in one case the reason is written in the records in no uncertain terms; the fourth carries the same thread into the 1960s.
At Peio Fonti the first chapel dates from 1771, and the source links it directly to the growing use of the local therapeutic waters; the present building dates from 1850, and the 1966 bell tower was paid for entirely by donations from holidaymakers, as a plaque on the tower recalls. On the mountain above Mezzocorona, in 1787, a private individual had the church of San Lorenzo built for the use of holidaymakers, and in 1880 gave it to the municipality.
The most direct evidence comes from Rabbi Fonti: the church of Sant’Anna, built around 1785, was rebuilt between 1835 and 1836 to accommodate the influx of tourists. It is not our interpretation, it is the recorded reason for the works: already in the first half of the nineteenth century there were enough visitors to justify them. The thread reaches almost to the present, because the church of Folgarida dates from 1965, the years when the ski resort was being created from nothing, and it is a church built for a village that did not exist before.
4 places where you meet it
- Chiesa di San Camillo de LellisValle di PejoThis church owes its origins to spa tourism. The earliest sources record a chapel built in 1771, following the growing use of the therapeutic waters of the locality; the present building dates from 1850, designed by the master builder Pietro Piazzani, with alterations in 1867. In 1938 ownership passed from the municipality to the parish of Peio.
- Chiesa di San LorenzoPiana RotalianaThis church says more about the area than its size would suggest: a private individual had it built in 1787, on the mountain of Mezzocorona, and built it for the use of holidaymakers.
- Chiesa di Sant'AnnaVal di RabbiA first church was built at Rabbi Fonti around 1785. Fifty years later it was no longer enough, and the reason is written plainly in the records: between 1835 and 1836 it was rebuilt to accommodate the influx of tourists.
- Chiesa di Santa Maria Vergine della SelvaVal di SoleThe church of Santa Maria Vergine della Selva was built in 1965 at Folgarida.
The links between these places come from our entries, where every fact has been checked against the sources. The entries are written one at a time: this thread will grow with them.