VAL DI PEIO>THE TOWNS> CELENTINO

Celentino(1264) is dominated by the church’s mausoleum and is overlooked by the Vioz mountain. Just before the turning, which leads to the village, a road to the left branches off with a path leading down to the mineral deposits on this side and which then continues on to Celledizzo. The mule track rises to the "doss del Castelàc", which is probably a prehistoric castle. Just below are the farmsteads of Canal. Tradition places the village of Lianori, which seems to have been destroyed by a landslide, on the primitive settlement of Celentino. At the entrance of the village above the square on the right, we can find the residence of "el Taparelac", a certain Giacomo Cristoforo Tapparelli. He lived between 600 and 700 and won the name of “brigand of Celentino”. There is an interesting ex voto on the famous prisoner of the sanctuary of the Madonna del Sasso of Locano in the Italian part of Switzerland. The brigand and his accomplice, the latter of Pellizzano, were sentenced in Trento in 1733. This was the last of the sentences issued by the bishops. Until just following the First World War, the Ave Maria was recited at the end of mass in order to protect the village from another evil character. The name of the village has Roman origins, from the word cella (a minimum territorial unit). The church, which was already mentioned in 1300, was built in its present form during the last century. There is a bell tower adjacent with an unusual “onion” shaped dome. The facade is in the neo-classic style. Inside, it has only one nave and a barrel shaped vault ornately stuccoed. Of the three altars, the main one is of marble with lateral doors. The polychromatic engraved altarpiece on the rear wall and right altar has been attributed to the Bezzi workshop. Due to a recent theft of the most valuable pieces, the altars are kept bare. The church is dedicated to. S. Agostino.
A plaque by the sculptor G.Spagolla is worth a mention, it is in memory of the priest called Giuseppe Arvedi (1826-1897), born in the village and author of "illustrazione della Val di Sole" (1888), the first historical work of its kind, is typical solandra style. There is a bronze piece by Livio Cónta (1969) dedicated to the fallen in the church square. It looks towards the Plaga di Ossana , the mountains overhead and Presanèlla at the top of the Val di Pejo. Comasine is facing on the same side as Boài. Continuing beyond the village you that reach farmsteads of Céi, the then the crossing (4 hours) towards Alpe Pozze and the villages of the mountain begins.

Text by Rinaldo Delpero pejo@biblio.infotn.it