Ambra la gatta sul sentiero delle pietre

Produced by the Vivere la Montagna Association. Luca Bettosini. www.montagna.ch. Above the village of San Vittore, in Mesolcina, the forest preserves a collection of engraved boulders of extraordinary historical and symbolic interest. Along ancient connecting paths, between stone stairways, dry stone walls, and chestnut groves, large slabs of rock emerge marked with cup marks, crosses, and other engraved signs, evidence of intense and prolonged human presence. These boulders, often invisible for decades due to vegetation, tell a story of boundaries, paths, rituals, and daily life, offering a precious glimpse into the profound relationship between humanity and the landscape of Mesolcina. The Sass di Cros is a large slab composed of multiple overlapping layers of rock, with a surface area of ​​nearly 50 square meters. Engraved on it, divided into four clearly distinguishable groups, are about forty crosses accompanied by a dozen cup-marked inscriptions, making this boulder one of the most interesting and complex in the area. Above the cup-marked boulder, you can see dry stone walls, once used to support chestnut trees, while below it lies a space that, at first glance, might seem like a simple animal shelter. Upon closer inspection, however, we realize that in ancient times someone deliberately carved this space into the rock for a purpose that is now unknown to us. It is, in fact, a large, naturally modified cave, a spacious and sheltered space that could have comfortably accommodated up to ten people. This detail raises fascinating questions about the use of the place and its possible role within the human landscape of the past.