Giargiö́öl di Matööj

It was in 1928 that Antonio Fazzini, long considered the progenitor of the large Matöi family, by then retired and permanently settled in Premana, thought of having the current "giargiööl" (votive shrine) built. It is said that he had already been thinking about it for some time. At that time, owning one's own "giargiööl" was perhaps also a source of pride, as well as a sign of deep, lived Faith. But it was not only about that.

Antonio's first four sons—Paolo (born 1892), Gerolamo (born 1894), Antonio (born 1896), and Carlo (born 1898)—were all drafted into the Regio Esercito Italiano army when Italy entered the war in May 1915, as all four belonged to draft-age classes.

Antonio managed to get news about the course of the war only when a relative or acquaintance went down to the plains (Lecco or Como), tasked with buying the daily newspaper "Corriere della Sera". Most of the time, editions from many days prior arrived. Correspondence from his sons was practically non-existent, in addition to being inspected and censored upon departure.

In November 1918, the war ended with millions of casualties on the field and just as many victims of the Spanish flu.

In military history, there are singular cases of families that saw multiple members serve at the same time. But Antonio's story is one of the few with a happy ending: all four sons returned from the front completely unscathed.

As a token of thanksgiving as an ex voto, Antonio arranged for the construction and purchased from Val Gardena the Crucifix that still "reigns" inside the "giargiööl" itself.

In 2018, on the occasion of the centenary of the armistice, the back wall was embellished with the "Stazioni della Via Crucis". A curious detail is that the twelfth station, "Jesus dies on the Cross", is missing. It is not a problem: the entire "giargiööl" as a whole replaces the missing station with a beautiful crucifix of almost two meters, facing the mule track, awaiting our Pater Ave Gloria.