The Mines of Pestarena

The Pestarena Mines

It is unknown who first exploited the gold deposits of Pestarena.
According to tradition, the first people who used the gold from the mineral strands of the Upper Valle Anzasca were the Romans, or even the Celts, the same people who discovered the “Monte Moro pass”.
In the peace treaty that was signed in 1291 in Armenzello, the current Saas Almagell, a mention is made of the “silver people” (miners).
These miners are described in the documents of the time as skilled and unscrupulous. It seems, moreover, that they did not limit their action field to the Anzasca valley, but they boldly pushed up to Alagna through the Turlo Pass.
In the 1400s, with the arrival in the valley of captain Facino Cane, began the age of the rational exploitation of the mines.
Cane and his descendants can be considered, in fact, among the best exploiters of the mines. This art made his family rich. From the Hospice of the Morghen, a dark hiding place for malefactors in his service, they terrified the whole valley.
This until 1425, when the Anzaschini (people of the Anzasca valley), tired of the harassment, assaulted the forts of the Cani, killed the guards and took possession of a great quantity of gold. Once the Cani had been sent away, the Borromeo family arrived in the valley and received the concession of the mines by Duke Gian Galeazzo Visconti. It seems that their skills in this activity were rather poor.
At the end of the 18th century, the Borromeo lost the lordship of the valley.
In the meantime, Captain Bartolomeo Testoni, a mining engineer, took the granting of the excavations. He extracted gold in Campioli with great profit.
To thank his unexpected fortune, Testoni donated a large wooden frame, carved and gilded with pure gold with the painting of the adoration of the Magi, to the Parish Church of Macugnaga. A similar donation was immediately made by another miner captain, Pietro Giordano di Alagna, owner of the mine which opened to the Guia Bridge near Borca.
Saussure's journey took place in these years: "the main mines - writes the Genevian naturalist - are in the vicinity of a village called Pestarena. The mine of Mr. Testoni, which I descended and observed with the greatest care, is called Cava del Pozzone. In the years of greatest prosperity, up to a thousand workers were employed in the mines of Macugnaga, nowadays there is only half this number; those who have mines try to get rid of them and all the owners I met, except Testoni, have offered me to buy them. It seems that these mines are richer on the surface compared to what is located inside and that the best has already been extracted."