For centuries, the ancient Via Priula was one of the main links between the Republic of Venice, Valtellina, and Graubünden. Commissioned by the Serenissima for commercial and strategic reasons, it was built between 1592 and 1593 under the direction of the Podestà of Bergamo, Alvise Priuli, from whom it took its name.
The construction of the work required an extraordinary technical and human effort, so much so that Priuli himself stated that he had “cut a road into the living rock.” Unlike the older Via Mercatorum, which followed a route at a higher elevation, the new road crossed the valley floor, thus facilitating trade and travel through the Brembana Valley.
San Pellegrino Terme also experienced the passage of the Via Priula. Within the town, the route traversed a long portico, still preserved today, along which businesses and services for travelers sprang up. Among these was a "caneva," a shop where basic necessities were sold at prices set by the municipality, the name of which has remained in local toponyms to this day.
Even today, the stretch of the ancient Via Priula bears witness to the historical importance of San Pellegrino Terme as a place of passage, exchange, and encounter between different territories and cultures.
