Runo (a hamlet near Dumenza)

The municipality of Dumenza, which lies in a valley surrounded by woods, gave the name to Val Dumentina. In 1978, some inhabitants of Runo decided to create a cultural-tourist association called "Runo per l'affresco" (Runo for frescoes), with the aim of creating a "mural book" to "leaf through" along the streets of the village. The project, which was supposed to last until 2000, ended around 1983, but despite this, over one hundred frescoes of the most varied subjects were painted by several artists on the walls of the houses. Other frescos were painted in the nearby hamlet of Stivigliano. In addition to this initiative, it was decided to decorate the tiles that bear the street numbers with images of local flora and fauna.

The painter and decorator who stole the Mona Lisa
Dumenza is the birthplace of the artist Bernardino Luini, a pupil of Leonardo da Vinci, and of Vincent Peruggia, a painter and decorator, who became famous for stealing the Mona Lisa from the Louvre Museum, in 1911. And the hamlet of Runo is famous for being the birthplace of Bartolomeo Scappi, the "secret" chef of Pope Pius V, and author of the greatest book on Renaissance cuisine, a work on the art of cooking.

Information: info@comune.dumenza.va.it