The municipality of Valdaone was established on 1 January 2015 when the municipalities of Bersone, Daone and Praso were merged.
Bersone, with its beautiful, sun-drenched position, consists of the two settlements of Formìno and Bersone. Mentions of the medieval parish church of S.S. Fabiano e Sebastiano, in the centre, date back to 1537. It was rebuilt during the 19th century in neoclassical style (consecrated in 1867 and restored after the first world war), with an imposing pillared atrium and a granite bell tower beside it, bearing the date 1851. On the inside, it shows neo-renaissance forms. The 17th-century altarpiece of S. Sebastiano is held in a great baroque marble frame built into the apse behind the main altar, which is from the same era. The two paintings at the sides of the presbytery show scenes from the life of S. Sebastiano, and the pulpit and chancel in carved wood are also worth seeing (13th century).
RELIGIOUS HOLIDAYSThere are many important traditions linked to religious holidays, and to the turning of the seasons. During the procession on All Saints’ eve, the cemetery would be lit up with candles set in snail shells, while a pumpkin carved into a skull and holding another candle would be set on the granite cross (which now features a wrought iron structure containing four lights). Vegetable plots would be sowed on Good Friday (a common custom in Giudicarie), while on Holy Saturday church bells would be released from their bonds and sticks used to beat the trunks of fruit trees, in the hopes of a good harvest.
The old centre of Bersone (610 m) has maintained the distinctive layout of Giudicarie towns; it stretches out across a moraine terrace centred around a piazza with an immense granite fountain. Its houses are large, with wrought iron gratings, granite doorways, typical long hallways and even a few surviving wooden structures.
Today, its main activities consist of construction and wooden crafts. One site worthy of notice is the Museo della Grande Guerra, a museum that holds many artefacts from the 1st World War, which was fought in the nearby Adamello mountains at altitudes of over 3,000 metres.
