Heritage: Hône

These are rocks or stones where small concave holes in the shape of a cup have been carved with either hard stones or metal awls. These prehistoric findings date back to the Late Bronze and Iron Ages. It is still unclear what these carvings were used for: some experts believe that the hollowed out stones were used for religious and propitiatory rites. In the Hône area, the hollowed out stones are located in Montoulin (900m) and in Plan Priod (465m).

Built in 1689 near the parish church of Saint George, this is the residence of Count Jean-Pierre Marelli, general superintendent of arms and munitions of the House of Savoy, who had received the territory of Hône as a fiefdom just a few years previously. The building develops horizontally and is characterised by the presence of gardens and internal vegetable gardens. From the outset, what was conceived as a Palazzo Signorile, was used as a farmhouse, and by the 1700s, the state of the structure had deteriorated. In the middle of the 19th century Giovanni Antonio Colliard, long-serving mayor of Hône, purchased the palazzo and remained owner until the middle of the following century. The architectural structure of the castle has undergone heavy transformations in the last few decades.

The parish church dedicated to St. George boasts ancient origins: it was in fact already mentioned in a Papal Bull by Alexander III in 1176. The building was rebuilt during the early decades of the XVIII century and in 1742 the Gilardi brothers created the statues on the triumph beam. Other almost full renovations took place in 1833, while in 1897 the interior was frescoed by Alessandro and Augusto Artari, painters from Verrès.

INTERESTING DETAILS:
- the three altars, dating from the XVIII century and in Baroque style, in carved, painted and gilded wood;
- the choir lift, decorated with original caryatids
- the nineteenth-century pulpit in walnut, composed of various sculptured panels.

The parish church museum contains, among other things, the following pieces:
- bas-relief depicting Our Lady of Mercy, dating from around 1600, perhaps originally from the chapel in Ruine, which was destroyed by a flood in the XVII century
- bas-relief depicting St. George, the princess and the dragon, dating from the first half of the XVII century
- numerous, precious sculptures and sacred furnishings.