Seradina is the part of Valcamonica that shows how the Camuni told stories. On a broad slab of polished sandstone, shaped by a glacier and now shaded by oak and chestnut, a crowd of tiny figures has been pecked into the surface: men ploughing with oxen, hunters stalking deer, warriors with round shields, huts on stilts and fields marked out in squares. The scenes were carved over many centuries by people who lived by farming and herding, and they read like a diary of an Alpine community from the Bronze and Iron Ages. Nearby, the Bedolina rock holds a famous design often described as a map, a network of lines, dots and little houses that seems to record fields and paths.
The park lies on the slope above the river Oglio, on the west side of the valley, opposite the sacred mountain of Concarena, whose pale limestone peak rises to over two and a half thousand metres and was probably a place of worship in the same ancient times. Some carvings seem to have been aligned with it. The area around Capo di Ponte also has a Romanesque church, San Siro, perched on a rock, and the monastery of San Salvatore, founded by monks from Cluny in the eleventh century.
Riders find the valley both a destination and a doorway. The road along the Oglio is a straightforward valley road, with trucks and traffic lights in the towns, but from Edolo the great Alpine passes begin. Tonale, Aprica and, for more demanding riding, Mortirolo and Gavia, which are narrow and steep and open only in summer, all lie within a morning's ride. In summer weekends the valley is busy, and in winter ice closes the passes. The park paths are short, but steep and slippery after rain, so decent boots are worth wearing.
Capo di Ponte has a handful of shops and trattorias, and the closest large town for fuel and supplies is Darfo Boario Terme, some twenty kilometres south, though smaller villages along the valley have petrol stations. Local fare is hearty: polenta, venison, pizzoccheri and casoncelli. The park has opening hours and a small entrance fee, which vary by season.