Listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2011, the intriguing collection of 111 archaeological sites scattered across the Alps is a fantastic tourist attraction to visit on your next Italian vacation!
These pile dwellings of the Alps are shared between Italy, Germany, France, Austria and Slovenia. Nineteen of them rest in the northern Italian regions of Lombardy, Veneto, Piedmont, Friuli Venezia Giulia and Trentino Alto Adige.
The sites of these unusual settlements are always located close to water and the oldest of them are located by Lake Varese in Lombardy.
These pile dwellings of the Alps are shared between Italy, Germany, France, Austria and Slovenia. Nineteen of them rest in the northern Italian regions of Lombardy, Veneto, Piedmont, Friuli Venezia Giulia and Trentino Alto Adige.
The sites of these unusual settlements are always located close to water and the oldest of them are located by Lake Varese in Lombardy.
These wooden houses were not built on water as they would initially appear, but on piles on the surrounding marshy land. But as time passed, many of these lakes around which they were built grew bigger and water rose around the wooden stilts that held up the dwellings.
These fascinating structures give us an incredible insight into what life was like during the Neolithic and Bronze Ages in this Alpine area of Europe.
If you’re spending a scenic vacation in a villa near Lake Garda then you’re in easy reach of the largest concentrations of these pile dwellings.
There are around thirty wooden houses scattered around the lake’s shores which are bordered by the regions of Trentino Alto Adige, Veneto and Lombardy. The people that lived in these pile dwellings made excellent use of the fertile land beside the water to grow food and of course they were excellent at fishing the lakes beside them.
These fascinating structures give us an incredible insight into what life was like during the Neolithic and Bronze Ages in this Alpine area of Europe.
If you’re spending a scenic vacation in a villa near Lake Garda then you’re in easy reach of the largest concentrations of these pile dwellings.
There are around thirty wooden houses scattered around the lake’s shores which are bordered by the regions of Trentino Alto Adige, Veneto and Lombardy. The people that lived in these pile dwellings made excellent use of the fertile land beside the water to grow food and of course they were excellent at fishing the lakes beside them.
They were among Europe’s first agricultural communities with enough resources surrounding them to settle permanently. Many ingenious tools and artefacts used by these people have been discovered in the area and are on display in local museums. Explore these curious pile dwellings for yourself during your next exciting holiday to northern Italy and learn many wonderful discoveries about the people who once lived in them and their way of life!
Photo credits
picture 2: Ampfinger / CC BY-SA 3.0;
picture 3: Traveler100 / CC BY-SA 3.0
picture 2: Ampfinger / CC BY-SA 3.0;
picture 3: Traveler100 / CC BY-SA 3.0
