Several krösme belonging to the knife grinders conceal holy cards and devotional pictures inside their closing door  , which shows the profound faith that these people had in the Lord, the Holy Virgin, and the Saints.

Their beliefs also guided them during their trips, which were always full of unknown factors and danger, like the aggressions of the bandits that often tried to rob them.

From the canonical books of the Pieve di Santa Maria Assunta in Resia, we learn that some of the most frequent causes of death during these trips were adverse weather conditions, Alpine crossings, and fording watercourses. From the knife grinders’ places of death we can also deduce their approximate migratory routes. This shows that they encountered all kinds of danger during their trips and trades. When they came back, some of them donated furniture and sacred art objects to the churches in their villages as a symbol of their gratitude, and these objects have been preserved in the valley’s twelve churches to this day.

The donations were mostly spontaneous or encouraged by the priests, and they consisted in silverware (reliquaries, ampoules, chandeliers, chalices, monstrances, and crosses), vestments, statues, and paintings.

These objects, that are still today part of the churches’ furniture, show these people’s generosity, and it is not a case that the most significant group of such objects can be traced back to the 18th century, when this productive traditional and collective practice was at its apex.

Differences in the quality and value of the objects mirror the different financial resources of the donors, who often requested their initials be carved in them.

The absence of initials could indicate that the objects were the result of a joint purchase by a group of knife grinders. The presence of initials, on the other hand, often allows the identification of the people who donated them, and can offer precious information on the places they visited during their trips. The material evidence preserved in the churches not only informs us of the knife grinders’ personal devotion, but also gives us elements to infer their taste and cultural background.