Picapreda Museum in Novate Mezzola

In Novate Mezzola, on the lake of the same name at the entrance of the Valchiavenna valley, opposite the town hall in Piazza Europa 51/b, there is the small Museo del Pica Preda, in which pictures and devices for granite processing from Sanfedelino are exhibited and the history is described.


The Museum del Picapreda was created to relive a very important part of the history of Novate Mezzola. Here, where the main occupation of the population for about two centuries was "picapreda" (stone carving) .

Whole generations of Novatesi have extracted and processed the Sanfedelino. The stone is so named because the first quarry, opened at the end of the 18th century, was almost next to the temple. The small temple is in the 10th century. built on the site of the remains of the martyr Fedele, victim of the persecution of Massimiano in 298.

The Sanfedelino granite was mainly intended for urban road construction; In fact, there are a number of streets and squares in Milan, Como, Pavia and Bologna with this pavement (it was calculated that in the five years before the First World War, over 82 thousand tons of granite processed from the Novate Mezzola train station in the direction of Milan, Piacenza, Modena, Reggio Emilia and especially Bologna).


When it became necessary in the big cities to revise the type of road construction (which consisted of sidewalks at street level and trottoires) due to the increasing traffic caused by the introduction of trams and the first passenger cars, the Sanfedelino granite was used to build the Curbs of the new elevated sidewalks are used. During the 20th century, from the twenties to the mid-thirties, the Sanfedelino granite was booming: a large number of workers, attracted by a unique opportunity to work, were employed in around twenty quarries in Novate. However, this was followed by a slow and unstoppable crisis that peaked in the late 1960s. Today only one quarry is still in operation.

opening hours
Free viewing Monday 8.30am-12.30pm, Thursday and Friday 2-6pm
Visits outside the opening times by appointment. Information from the Municipality of Novate Mezzola.



information desk
Consorzio per la Promozione Turistica della Valchiavenna
Via C. Chiavennaschi 11
23022 Chiavenna (SO)
Tel +39 0343/37485
Fax +39 0343/37361
consorzioturistico@valchiavenna.com

Municipality of Novate Mezzola
Tel +39 0343/63040

REGION: Lake Como North Museum/Museums (Alto Lario)/Monuments