Tradition

Valmalenco Serpentine schist has been extracted and worked since the Middle Ages. Around 1000 A.D. the valley’s inhabitants noticed that some of the rocky outcrops contained fine bedding planes and could be split into thin slabs. A new industry was born as the locals began to work as miners, tile makers and roof layers. Today, the tile makers still use the same age-old techniques passed down from generation to generation. They split the rock open and divide the slabs into thin sheets using rock hammers, wedges and chisels of varying sizes.
Once upon a time the stone was mined underground and the vestiges of these mines are still visible (several can be visited). The miners worked in close-knit groups known as “compagnie”.
Pioda roofing tiles produced in Valmalenco were transported out of the valley on sleighs and carts and sold in two distinct markets: they were either taken down to Sundrium (now Sondrio) and sold throughout the region, or they were carried up and over the Muretto pass on the old Roman caravan route to the Roman curia of Coira in the region formerly called Rezia.
Thanks largely to the foresight of clergymen and cultured families of the time, Valmalenco Piodas were frequently used on the roofs of churches and noble mansions.
From early on, Serpentinoscisto gained a reputation as an outstanding roofing material. Over the centuries it has had a significant impact on the social and cultural life of the valley and continues to do so today.