The scivolone stone, situated in Rio Secco, about 200 metres (219 yards) upstream of the bike path that leads from Malesco to Villette, in Vigezzo Valley, is a large erratic soapstone boulder, once called sasso della Lissera. Popular tradition attributes to this rock powers of fertility for young women. The ritual of sliding on the excavated surface of the rock was in fact a widespread custom in past mythologies and worship.
Also in the Rio Secco area in Malesco, there’s an engraved boulder that in ancient times was known as sas d’la lesna, the “lightning stone”, characterised by some rounded engravings, called cuppelle, often connected with each other by small incisions.
These stones are precious testimonies of the pre-Christian era: it is believed that they may have been used as primitive altars for sacrificial rites imploring the divinities and preventing the terrifying effects of lightning.
