Parco dell'Adamello

For centuries, the cultivation of the chestnut tree has been one of the main forms of subsistence for the local people, and this explains the diffusion of the chestnut forests in Valle Camonica, covering within the Park more than 500 ha. Among the products obtained from the chestnut flour there are biscuits, cakes, fresh pastry, and distillates. Several craftsmen are working to rediscover and re-invent traditional recipes based on chestnut and its by-products, and several restaurants offer them in their menus. Valle Camonica Chestnut Consortium was born in spring 1996 in Paspardo, a village of Valle Camonica at 1,000m asl, thanks to the initiative of the local Municipal Administration and a group of private citizens with the common aim to enhance the great heritage of chestnuts of Valle Camonica.
The Consortium aims at:

• promoting the economic and production rehabilitation and enhancement of the chestnut forests of Valle Camonica, contributing to enhance and safeguard the mountain areas
• recovering the tradition of the chestnut tree also with holiday farming purposes
• creating working opportunities and developing specific professional competence.

Valle Camonica Chestnut Consortium, consisting of over 150 ordinary members and financing members (among which 12 Municipalities of the Valley, Riserva delle Incisioni Rupestri di Ceto, Cimbergo e Paspardo, Comunità Montana di Vallecamonica, and BIM), represents an authoritative interlocutor in the chestnut growing recovery. Over the years, it has carried out significant experiences of harvesting, treatment, preservation, and marketing of the fresh product and its by-products. Moreover, important activities dedicated to the research and development of chestnut by-products have been carried out in association with the Plant Cultivation and Food Technology Institutes of the University of Milan.
The Consortium manages a Holiday Farm obtained from the recovery of a big characteristic farmstead and used for a first processing and preservation of the chestnuts, for the exhibit of the products, and as a welcome center. The structure is situated in one of the most beautiful chestnut forests of the valley in loc. Deria, in the Municipality of Paspardo, within the area of the rock carvings and in Adamello Park. The surrounding area has been equipped to welcome visitors.