Sgraffito villages

The park has one hut. The villages around it have the real beds.

Sgraffito is a mid-17th-century plastering technique: a dark base coat is covered with white lime plaster, then scratched through while wet to reveal the dark layer underneath in decorative patterns — geometric borders, rosettes, dates, sometimes whole scenes, worked directly into house facades. It's the defining visual feature of Lower Engadine houses, and three villages in particular reward a walk through: Zernez, the park's gateway; Guarda, the best-preserved; and Ardez, dominated by a ruined castle above the rooftops.