Riserva Naturale Valle del Freddo

In 1939, Mr. Giulio Isnenghi, amateur keen on botany, met a local hunter during a tour in Val Cavallina. He noticed that the hunter carried an edelweiss on his hat. The flower seemed to have been just gathered.
He asked inquisitively the man from which mountain it could come from, but he was astonished when he was answered that the flower came from an area near Lago di Gaiano: Valle del Freddo.
According to Regional Law no. 86 of 1983 and to the subsequent resolution N. III/2015 of 25th March 1985 passed by the Regional Board, Valle del Freddo became a "Riserva Naturale Orientata" (Nature Reserve with Specific Purposes).

The main feature of the Reserve, situated between 350 and 700 meters of altitude, is the presence of a marked microthermal phenomenon: cold air comes out from some "holes" in the ground thus allowing the growth of vegetal species which usually grow in alpine environments.

The area interested by the phenomenon is characterized by the presence of openings among the detritus heaping up at the foot of the mountain sides. From these openings, the air blows out much colder than the surrounding one. For this reason, the temperature of the rocks covered by the grassy soil can fall to -12°C.
The phenomenon - unusual for these altitudes - is so complex that there are more interpretations and hypotheses than certain data.
One explanation could be the presence of a particularly active wind circulation that - exploiting the underground karstisc openings - can sensibly cool down temperature and lead to the ice formation. Another explanation could be the presence of underground relic ice.
The ongoing investigations will explain the origins of this natural ice-box and the charming effects it produces.

There is a huge fissure separating Mt. Clemo from Mt. Nà, called Canale dei Cani, a slip faulting between the noric dolomite and the main dolomite. This geological formation is surrounded by a legend which is famous in the area of Sovere: Mat Bunadöl legend, that is linked to the fault called Valle dei Cani. According to the legend, a hunter from Bunadöla farmhouse, Mat Bunadöl, did not go to the Mass to go hunting with his dogs. Neither his wife nor the priest could deter him from his habit. When he died, he was buried in Esmate cemetery, but his coffin did not want to stay underground and every two or three days, when the bells chimed, it appeared on the surface. It was thus decided to bury him in an isolated place where the sound of the bells couldn't be heard: the isolated and silent Valle del Freddo was chosen. Here, a rather deep doline is called "Busa del Mat Bunadöl".
Despite this, in the full-moon nights, people could hear his dogs barking and since then the fault situated next to Mt. Clemo, in the east of Valle del Freddo, is called "Valle dei Cani" (The Dogs Valley).

Valle del Freddo has been for a long time a land surrounded by sinister signs; the people from Endine, Solto Collina, and Sovere still call it with the ancient name of "Valle del Diavolo" (The Devil's Valley). As a matter of fact, according to an ancient legend, one day the Devil decided to challenge God inviting Him to the summit of Mt. Clemo, where you can enjoy a wonderful view over Valle Camonica and the whole Adamello chain, over Val Borlezza and Presolana massif, over Valle Cavallina and the whole basin of Endine Lake, over Iseo Lake and Monte Isola, almost up to Franciacorta hills. The stakes were the rule over the souls populating the four underlying valleys. In order to win the challenge, it was necessary to throw as far as possible one of the reddish, rounded, and huge boulders scattered throughout the pastures of Mt. Clemo. Satan, the challenger, threw his boulder first, but it did not go that far, only to a hill of loc. Pratilunghi, exactly in front of Valle del Freddo, breaking in four parts. It was God's turn then. He threw his huge boulder which went beyond the valley, in the meadows of Possimo. The defeated and angry Devil stroke his heel on the rock so hard that the mountain shattered with a deafening noise, swallowing him to the bowels of hell. From the depths, the Devil began to breathe a cold wind, a sort of evil breath you can still hear.