Gromo
Gromo is a comune in the Province of Bergamo in the Italian region of Lombardy, located about northeast of Milan and about northeast of Bergamo. As of 31 December 2004, it had a population of 1,246 and an area of.
The municipality of Gromo contains the frazioni Boario, Spiazzi and Ripa. Gromo borders the following municipalities: Ardesio, Gandellino, Oltressenda Alta, Valbondione, Valgoglio, Vilminore di Scalve. It is one of I Borghi più belli d'Italia.
It is positioned within the Lombardy Prealps, specifically in the Bergamasque Prealps. It is located on the right side of the Serio River in the upper Seriana Valley; during the Middle Ages it was known as the little Toledo thanks to some smithies that turned it into an important centre for iron making and the consequent realization of cold weapons, halberds, shields and armors.
Demographic evolution
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Geography
Territory
The municipality is made by the centre located on a rock dominating the Serio river, at 676 m above the sea level and by some hamlets nestled along both the mountainous slopes of the valley. The territory is included between 604 and 2534 m above the sea level.To the north we find the hamlet of Ripa, while to the east there are the ones of Boario and Spiazzi, composed of different built up areas all located among 900 and 1200 m above the sea level.
The road connecting Gromo and Spiazzi is 7.5 km long, curvy and panoramic, runs for the first kilometers deep in the green woods up to the hamlet of Valzella, the first small inhabited unit originally composed by a dozen of farmsteads and housed built with stones and slate roofs, well conserved and inhabited, enriched by some vacation blocks of flats.
From Valzella on, the road exits the woods, reaches the small hamlet of Boario and keeps on up to reach the pine forest in Spiazzi locality.
Karstic cavern
Bus di Tacoi is a cave of karstic origin positioned on Redondo Mount. It preserves some of the best examples of karstic forms known. You can reach it in 1 hour walk from Spiazzi di Gromo and its entrance is located 1550m above the sea level. It is divided in four sectors composed by tunnels, hallways and detachments for a total length of 1217 m and a difference in altitude of 189 m up to the deepest point that is the green lake. The origin of the name is referred to a mountainous bird that nestled at the entrance of the cave.Climate
Gromo is located in a valley, so it has a tight and steep valley floor. Its climate is continental, with cold and relatively dry winters and relatively warm and humid summers. In winter, with clear sky, you can find the typical temperature inversion with the lowest temperatures between −4° and −6°, while in summer the lowest temperatures can be around 16°/17°, reaching 25–26°. Often, winter can be snowy. Even in case of temperatures above 30–33°, wind is always quite present and winds dry and moderated.Origins of the name
Its toponym comes from a Latin word: Grumus, meaning upland, hill. Based on this theory there are many examples within the province of Bergamo, referred to places nearby hills or mountains like Grumello del Monte, Gromlongo and Bergamo's hill Gromo, that gave the name to Gromo street, then changed into San Cassinao street and finally into Gaetano Donizetti street.History
Origins and Middleages
In Natural History, Pliny the Elder wrote of the first Christians condemned by the Romans to quarry metals in the mines of the Seriana Valley, a punishment known as Condemnation to the mines. This and some traces on weapons and corks demonstrate the presence of inhabitants on the territory up to the Roman period. The area was a shelter for the first Italians from the Barbaric invasions.In 774 the king of the Franks, Charlemagne, gifted Saint Martin of Tours’ monastery and the one of Saint Denis de Paris with the territories of the upper Seriana Valley. Then in 1026 the Bergamo's episcopate with the bishop Ambrogio II took the property in exchange with other properties, keeping for himself the rights on the revenues from quarry and working of iron and silver present within the valley, so began a period of hard disagreements between the laic power, represented by the feudatarian and the ecclesiastic one, represented by the bishop. The first documents about the existence of the village date back to that period too: for the first time the expressions ``vallis Ardexie seu Grumi” or “curia Ardesii er Grummi”, as to point out Ardesio and Gromo as those areas that will be turned into comuni rurali.
In 1179 Bishop Guala from Bergamo, allowed the use of the goods of the upper Seriana Valley to the families provided that they were willing to pay 200 lire, the community was represented only by consuls including Cremonese de Cromo, even if the territory of Gromo was still part of the Aresio valley. By the way, it starts the formation of the Gromo county that in the 13th century seems to be autonomous.
The upper Seriana Valley became property of some families, of the civitas, Valbondione belonged to the Colleoni's, Valgoglio was property of the Dalla Crotta's while Gromo was owned by the Rivola, but the concessions were highly questioned by the different following Bishops up to 1219 when the Bishop Giovanni Tornielli threaten to excommunicate those who would not give them to the church of Bergamo, causing many controversies between the municipality of Bergamo and the episcopacy that will be represented in the next years by the bishop Guala di Brescia. The Rivola family who quarried silver to forge coins in the first mint of Bergamo, gave up the territories to the bishop; it dates back to March 1214 an act drafted in the episcopal palace where Mazzocco di Rivola and his son Olcino, sell to the bishop Giovanni Tornielli the property of their silver mine.
Gromo became an autonomous village as rural vicinia in the first half of the 13th century, and the first proper statute was written in 1238 in the garden of the Church of Saint James and Saint Vincent of Betuno di Gromo by 12 accountants and 4 notaries who gave it to the podestà Nantelmo da Crema.
The history of Gromo is embedded in the story of the province of Bergamo, the upper valley. After the Peace of Constance of 1183, the valley was donated from Arnolfo count of Austria to Pantaleone Burgente, who by promising the maintenance of some privileges gained the fidelity of the citizens. In 1252 his nephew Conte Antonio Patavino gave the land to his brother in law Alessandro Ferrarese, who swore to maintain rights and privileges. Mallevadore al Ferrarense fu Bon o Buccelleni who gained for this task the possession of the magistrate's court.
With an official act of 12 February 1267 Gromo gained its autonomy becoming an official village, maintaining the rights upon the sell of metals, not to mention the exoneration of any tribute, starting to be claimed comunia vicinorum and universitates vicinorum in burgus. Napoleone dalla Torre, podestà of Milan and Bergamo, to compensate the 200 men from Gromo who helped him in the conquest of the Castle of Covo occupied by Buoso da Duera, officially granted to Gromo the privilege to be named borgo of Bergamo, by the payment of a ransom of the amount of 433 lire. The document, named Instrumento del privilegio, is hosted and consultable in the museum in the Milesi palace, headquarter of the town hall. Two were the families who became famous with their power and their castles: Buccelleni's with the Castrum de Bucellenis, and Priacini's with the Castrum de Priacinis, from the 15th century; while from a branch of Ginami's developed the Zuchinali family. Around them developed the village with the construction of smithies and the commerce of swords.
With the occupation of Bergamo and the Province by the Visconti family, the local administration was entrusted by podestàs chosen by the headquarter, and with the Malatesta in 1408 the vicar's function was confirmed, also with the privileges previously established. Gromo as the whole Seriana valley belonged to the Guelph faction, while the Scalve valley was Ghibelline, this led to aggressive disputes up to the Venetian occupation of 1427.