Plaz De Pemont (The Little Square Of Pedemonte) – (ENG)

Pemónt, a small hamlet in Cepina whose name originates from its position at the foot of the mountain, has its antiquity evidenced by a dated beam from 1387, discovered during some works in the 1980s. The small square of the hamlet, touched by the nearby Vallaccia stream, was originally about four meters lower in elevation. Indeed, during the thaw or heavy storms, the stream carried large amounts of debris, repeatedly raising the ground level. The residents, lacking the means to remove it, simply leveled it off, causing some houses to be raised by a floor, leaving the lower ones buried under alluvial deposits. This is evidenced by the discovery, in a basement, of an old entrance sealed and walled up in 1843 by the owner Giacomo De Monti following a flood, as well as other findings such as foundations, vaulted rooms, and remains of rustic structures previously overwhelmed by landslides.

Documents preserved in the Valdisotto Municipal Archive reveal that the residents of Pemonte engaged in various trades: cheesemakers, carpenters, blacksmiths, tanners, tailors, woodturners, and, naturally, farmers and livestock breeders, activities to which everyone dedicated themselves. The almost vanished traces of ancient frescoes decorating the houses express the lively faith of the inhabitants: a St. Anthony painted on the Pedranzini house dating back to the 1400s; a sacred figure frescoed on the De Monti house still visible until the post-WWII period; a small shrine noted on an early 19th-century map; the chapel dedicated to St. Luigi Gonzaga from the second decade of the 1900s, and the santèl with the Madonna of the Rosary at the entrance of the hamlet, dating back to the mid-1800s, whose original statue was a dressed Madonna (restored in the 2000s, now placed in a shrine in the Parish Church).

Over the years, the little square has been the meeting place for the inhabitants of the small village, with women washing at the fountain, men resting after a day’s work, and groups of children playing, hiding in the barns and houses without disturbing anyone. Today, the little square has become the meeting place for young people from the nearby hamlets who gather in the “Piazza Rossa” for their summer festival.