Sunken into the mountain slopes which are sometimes steep, Lake
Iseo reflects the greenery of the surrounding Pre-Alps and of the island in the middle. It
offers, from many easily reached elevated points, a view of a fiord among the olive trees.
Here passes the access route to the Camonica Valley, well travelled for centuries by
armies, turmoiling faith and the riches of commerce. Churches and castles dominate every
wave and every road, witnesses to the age old pride and faith which still breathe here.
Today still, fishermen fruitfully let down their fishing nets, nourishing an original
gastronomic tradition that renders the taste and the purity of the depth of the lake.
A BRIEF HISTORY
Lake-dwelling villages have flourished around Lake Iseo since the Stone Age; the
Rhetic, the Camun and Cenoman people found a meeting place here for their businesses.
After the domination over the people of the Camonica Valley (16 BC), the imposed Roman
republic, with its chief town at Cividate of the Camonica Valley, extended as far as
Pisogne and Sulzano.
In Montisola, fishing gave rise particularly to the production of nets, launched,
according to tradition, by the monks on San Paolo Island. Wool was already being spun
since the XV cent.; the lake craftsmen created a "universitas". The passing
through the lake area of iron and semifinished metals coming from the Camonica Valley gave
birth to blast furnaces and workshops especially in Marone. In 1510, Pisogne was also
interested in witch hunting which raged for decades in the Camonica Valley and numerous
burnings at the stake were seen. The opening of the coastal road (1850) and of the
railroad (1907) reduced the commercial importance of the port of Iseo
