Once you have reached the village of Magognino and taken the old mule track leading to Calogna, after a walk which will approximately take 40 minutes, you will find two chapels erected on two rocky outcrops.
On the first rock you can only see one small cupule* engraving, whereas on the second one, where the chapel devoted to St. Grato stands, you will be able to admire a concentration of over 250 cupules, with diameters ranging from 3 to 5 cm and with an average depth of about 2 cm.
Owing to the position dominating the lake and to the amazing number of cupules to be found in this extraordinary spot, it is assumed that this site already was a place of worship in pre-Christian times.
Other interesting petroglyphs, chiefly displaying a cupule shape, can be found in various points within the surroundings: proceeding along the same mule track, in the neighbourhood of the small church of St. Paolo, or along an uphill alley leading from Stropino to the top of Motta Rossa and near the mountaintop itself (a rock referred to as "Sasspraz").
*CUPULES. There are several different interpretations of the cupule engravings. First of all, there is a sacral reading which sees in these more or less deep engravings either the place where the blood of sacrificial victims (beast or man?) was shed or the place where incense, balms or wax were deposited, possibly using them as lamps during night ceremonies. According to another theory, the boulders of the cupules were a useful system for distance signalling and communication across various heights. Yet another hypothesis interprets them as a religious symbol connected with the worship of the dead, perhaps as a kind of pietas to collect water and food for the departed. And so on, with countless different suggested meanings: constellation patterns, property signs, numerical symbols, primordial topographic representations, female sex effigies or rough fonts.
