INFO VAL DI SOLE

 Commezzadura is comprised of the median part of Val di Sole situated between Mezzana and the narrows at Rovina. The commune is formed by seven hamlets (Deggiano, Mastellina, Mestriago, Piano, Daolasa, Almazzago, Costa Rotian) and has its town hall at Mestriago. Once the traditional economy of these villages was based on cattle raising and forestry, but today Commezzadura is a holiday resort, especially for winter tourism. For some time work has been going on to create a link with the Folgarida-Marilleva ski lifts, although it is in cross-country skiing that Commezzadura has had its greatest success in recent years. It, along with Vermiglio, has become one of the capitals of Nordic skiing in Val di Sole.

The name, which means “land given to colonists with half the product going to the owners”, was first mentioned in the codex of Bishop Vanga (1213), to indicate five villages (Almazzago, Mestriago, Mastellina, Piano and Deggiano) grouped together as a single commune. Finds of imperial coins testify to colonisation of the area in Roman times. The villages, which belonged to the parish of Ossana, depended ecclesiastically on Mezzana up to 1595, when the independent see of Saint Agata was created. After centuries of an economy based on forestry and cattle, which saw frequent arguments with nearby communities for the possession of the woods and pastureland, in the second half of twentieth century the tourist industry began, for which the tourist village of Costa Rotian was created.

Each community has its own church. At Mastellina there is the fifteenth century church of Saint Antony. Situated nearby is a curious bell tower with mullioned windows, which contains frescoes by Giovanni and Battista Baschenis (1483, 1489) and the remains of a late gothic triptych attributed to Narciso da Bolzano. The church at Almazzago is dedicated to Saint Rocco. It was erected after the plague of 1510 and was completely rebuilt in the 19th century. Saint Joseph’s church at Piano was built in the seventeenth century on the orders of canon Rossi. It contains paintings by Stefan Kessler (1666) and Alcide Davide Campestrini (end of the 1800’s). The simple chapel at Mestriago is dedicated to John the Baptist with a small bell tower on the top of the roof and a wooden altar built by the Lenner workshop. At Deggiano there is a sixteenth century church of the Trinity with three wooden altars and an altarpiece from the first half of the seventeenth century attributable to an unknown Nordic craftsman.

Between Mestriago and Piano, above the main road, there is the isolated parish church of Saint Agata, one of the most charming churches in the Valley. The original church, mentioned in documents in 1439, was rebuilt in the last quarter of the 15th century. The apse was decorated with frescoes between 1488 and the first decades of the 16th century by Baschenis, John and John the Baptist first, and then Simon (Story of Saint Agata). A large Saint Christopher (1495) is painted on an external wall. The main baroque altar is made of wood and holds the remains of a late gothic casket. The inside is divided into two naves which hold the other two altars. There is an interesting painting entitled the Martyrdom of Saint Bartolomeo and the wooden cover of the baptismal font was made by Lenner in 1651. The bell tower stands separate from the church and has two series of mullioned windows and a scandolo roof covering.