Val del Mis

Gosaldo – Sospirolo

The charm of the Dolomites for the whole family

The Mis Valley (Italian: Val del Mis) is a valley of the Dolomites UNESCO World Natural Heritage Site belonging to the Province of Belluno (Veneto Region) and included in the extraordinary context of the National Park of the Dolomites of Belluno (Parco Nazionale delle Dolomiti Bellunesi), Italian natural reserve.

The Val del Mis is located at the southern boundary of the Conca Agordina between the Agordino Municipalities of Rivamonte Agordino and Gosaldo and the Municipality of Sospirolo in Valbelluna. As for the Dolomites, the Val del Mis is located in the enchanting context of the Pale di San Martino, Pale di San Lucano, Vette Feltrine and Dolomiti Bellunesi, the 3rd of the 9 official Dolomites systems according to the Dolomites UNESCO Foundation. The Mis Valley is named after the Mis River, that forms a charming lake in the lower side of the Mis Valley towards Sospirolo.

La Croda Granda dalla frazione di Tiser — Cimonega Group (Vette Feltrine)

Il vecchio confine tra Austria ed Italia nei pressi delle Miniere di Vallalta in Val del Mis — The old boundary between Austria and Italy a few steps away from the Melting Furnaces of the Vallalta Mining Center in the Val del Mis

The main feature of the Mis Valley is its untouched, wild landscape, an area plenty of woodlands and steeps slopes that hide marvelous historic paths and mule tracks and natural treasures (like the Cadini del Brenton and the La Soffia waterfall, two of the most beloved attractions of the valley). Mountains in the area (Monti del Sole and Vette Feltrine) are often smaller if compared to other nearby Dolomites peaks but very challenging: path are often hardly visible and wild, most of them are quite hard and demanding and the place is known for being beautiful but also somehow dangerous. Because of this, excursions in the area are appreciated mainly among well-trained guests looking for tranquillity and for untouched paths that lead to less known, beautiful corners of the Dolomites.

La frazione abbandonata di California — The California ghost village

As for the human presence in the valley, the population has drastically decreased after the 1966 flood, a terrible event that has destroyed most part of the houses, hotels, factories and ways of communication. Once a popular tourist resort, among the first in the whole Dolomites, with a population of more than 5000 inhabitants, nowadays less than 1000 people still live in the Val del Mis. Also the flourishing local mining industry received a fatal blow from the 1966 flood: the centuries-old Vallalta Mining Center, valuable source of quicksilver and gold, was permanently damaged by the waters of the rivers Pezzea and Mis which destroyed not only the mining tunnels but also bridges, roads and the imposing complex of the melting furnaces of the area. The flood gave the coup de grace to a situation which was since decades very difficult for the Mis Valley: local economy, one one of the most solid of the Dolomites, was weakened by the two World Wars and from massive emigration. After the flood, entire villages were completely abandoned, like Gena and California, which are still ghost villages.

Apart from the human presence, as said, the Val del Mis is a very charming and popular tourist attraction still nowadays: during summer and fall the place is full of tourists from all over Europe, coming down to visit the lake, the Cadini and many other amazing attractrions of the valley. The National Park has a seat also on the lake, there are a couple of good restaurants and an interesting botanical garden at the Cadini del Brenton: Val del Mis is thus a place suitable for daily visits and very popular among families.

Despite of being fully included in the National Park of the Dolomites of Belluno, these years have seen lot of sad attempts to violate the protected area through the building of hydroelectric power plants, a business of millions of euro. Fortunately, thousands of people has protested against this unacceptable violations, obtaining the suspension of every kind of consrtuction work in the area of the National Park.