Description

The small village of Gai is at the foot of the western slope of the hill, natural terrace on Valmareno, on top of which is placed, isolated, the church dedicated to St. Michael the Archangel.

The building is dated 1740, but several documents attest to its existence as early as the thirteenth century. Inside you can admire fine as decorative ceiling frescoes attributed to the local artist Egidio dall'Oglio, the wooden altar of the seventeenth century and a shovel invoice popular, recently discovered after the removal of a valuable painting by Da Milano.

A walk in the village of Gai and its surroundings, between ascents and descents, allows to observe the varied landscape: fields of grapes and corn, fresh grass lawns and fenced yards, typical rural dwellings built with the stones of the place, which, to those who observe carefully, still show their glacial origin.

Origin

The origins of Gai are ancient and related to the conformation of the territory, in particular the strategic position of the hill training moraine that cuts across the Valley. In fact, the chapel dedicated to St. Michael, the warrior saint venerated by the Lombards, is in a position of control, perhaps remnant of an older location of sighting and reporting. Gai The name probably refers to an allocation Franco-Lombard, it shall trace the etymology of the name, from the Germanic gahadi (fence, land reserved), or from the Latin Gaium (forest of tall trees, the exclusive reserve of the lord) .
 

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