Rock art Natural reserve of Ceto, Cimbergo and Paspardo, Rock art nature reserve in Valle Camonica, Italy

The Rock art Natural Reserve of Ceto, Cimbergo and Paspardo is a protected area of about 290 hectares on the eastern slope of the middle Val Camonica, mostly wooded with hornbeam, lime, maple, chestnut, birch and hazel. It holds at least 420 rock surfaces bearing engravings made between the 5th millennium BC and the 20th century, with Bronze Age and Etruscan-influenced panels among the most notable. Trails and farm tracks link the main areas: Foppe di Nadro at Ceto, Campanine at Cimbergo, and Plas, In Vall and Sottolaiolo at Paspardo.

The engravings were identified in 1975 and span from the 5th millennium BC to the 20th century. The Bronze Age (2nd millennium BC) panels and those of Etruscan-influenced periods are considered the most notable. The area was flagged as a biotope in 1977, declared UNESCO World Heritage in 1979, and made a regional reserve by Lombardy in 1988.

The reserve takes its name from the three municipalities that share it: Ceto, Cimbergo and Paspardo. Its educational museum is housed in a 16th-century complex in the Nadro hamlet of Ceto, with panels and reconstructions devoted to Camunian rock art. Near Foppe di Nadro stands a prehistoric village rebuilt with a Mesolithic shelter, a Neolithic hut and an Iron Age Alpine dwelling.

The main entry point is the educational museum in Nadro, a hamlet of Ceto, housed in a 16th-century complex with exhibits on Camunian rock art. From there, dirt tracks and agro-silvo-pastoral roads lead to the engraved areas: Foppe di Nadro at Ceto, Campanine at Cimbergo, and Plas, In Vall and Sottolaiolo at Paspardo. Restored huts called Foresterie inside the woods provide lodging for visitors.

One of the most notable carvings depicts two warriors in a combat scene, which researchers interpret as an early representation of ritualized fights or power conflicts. This scene is rare among the thousands of other motifs and shows how people recorded moments of their social tensions and struggles.