PRESOLANA

Behind Bergamo, the Brembana Valley, the Seriana Valley and the distant Scalve Valley deeply affect the pre-Alpine reliefs that rise from the plain until they end against the Orobie chain. Mountains and valleys gathered in the wide embrace formed by the Larian lake and the deep furrows of Valtellina and Valle Camonica.

The Bergamo Prealps and the Orobic Alps offer themselves naked, on clear winter days or after summer storms, to those traveling along the motorway between Brescia and Milan, perhaps heading towards more distant mountaineering destinations.

Among these valleys there is a varied environmental heritage of unexpected beauty, among which stand out peaks and walls on whose rocks interesting pages of mountaineering history have been written. The undisputed queen of the entire chain is the Presolana, not a simple mountain, but an articulated and complex massif, a long bastion that rises between the Seriana Valley and the Scalve Valley, whose profile, marked by the succession of its five peaks , is easily recognizable from every perspective you look at it. We dedicate a true monograph to its lunar limestone walls, its over 250 routes and its rich mountaineering history, in which you will find not only the technical reports, accompanied by clear and precise routes and drawings, but also the stories of the first climbers and repeaters as well as the reproduction of precious historical archive materials, all enriched by numerous photographs to complete the story of the Queen of the Orobie.

Maurizio Panseri was born in Bergamo in 1964, he lives in Olera, a small historic village immersed in the woods of Alzano Lombardo. Since his adolescence, he has been passionate about the mountains and explored the entire Alpine range. The Orobie and the Bergamo Prealps remain “his” mountains, those behind his house, to which he feels intimately linked and which still amaze him today. He has always documented and recounted his moments of life in the mountains. He has collaborated and collaborates with numerous sector magazines. With Versante Sud he has already published Valli Bergamasche – Falesie e vie moderne (2016), MTB da Bergamo ai laghi di Endine e Iseo (2018), Scialpinismo sulle Orobie (2021).

Matteo Bertolotti born in Osio Sotto (Bergamo) in 1980, deals with arthouse film distribution. In 2003 he founded the website sassbaloss.com with some friends with the aim of publishing reports of repeated itineraries. To date he has climbed around 1400 rock and high mountain itineraries, from the Dolomites to Mont Blanc and from the great classic climbs to other highly sought after ones. He does not despise aid climbing and often loves to spend his days hanging from the stirrups. Passionate about old mountain books, he is a national mountaineering instructor at the Valle Seriana School and since 2013 a member of GISM (Italian Mountain Writers Group). With Versante Sud he has already published Pietra di Bismantova – Vie e falesie sulla perla dell’Appennino emiliano (2021) and Ghiaccio delle Orobie (2023).