In the Val Dossana, at the foot of the Arera mountain range, connecting to the Valle del Riso and Val Brembana, lie the largest mineral deposits in the Bergamo area, exploited from ancient times until the 1980s.
At the base of the valley is the “Piazza Rossa” (or, “Red Square”), probably named after the reddish colouration of the square where the calamine extracted from the surrounding mines was deposited. Overlooking the Piazza Rossa are the entrances to the S. Barbara Gallery and the Ribasso Noble Gallery.
The connection between the two galleries was provided by the characteristic wooden bridge, still accessible today. In Piazza Rossa, the buildings used both as the caretaker’s residence for the entrances to the galleries and as premises for compressors and the power unit are still visible, albeit in a state of abandonment.
Additionally are the remains of the silos used for the ore that arrived via cable car from Monte Trevasco are evident before the S. Barbara Gallery was connected to the upper mining sites via a vertical shaft. In wagons pulled by locomotives, the ore then crossed the bridge and, after traveling the 3600 meters of the Ribasso Noble, reached the facilities of the washing plant of Riso di Gorno.
