The Fodom Valley

Livinallongo del Col di Lana | Dolomites UNESCO

The Fodom Valley (Italian: Valle di Fodom, German: Buchensteintal) is a wide valley of the Dolomites UNESCO World Natural Heritage Site located in High Agordino (Alto Agordino, Province of Belluno, Veneto Region) and corresponding to the territory of the Municipality of Livinallongo del Col di Lana (Agordino dialect: Fodom, German: Buchenstein). The Fodom Valley borders with both Val di Fassa and Val Badia to the north through the passes Pordoi and Campolongo; to the south with the other Agordino Municipalities of Colle Santa Lucia and Rocca Pietore and to the east with Cortina d’Ampezzo through the Passo Falzarego.

Veduta sulla Valle di Fodom e sulla frazione di Larzonei — The Fodom Valley with the hamlet of Larzonei

Il Sella — The Sella Massif from the Marmolada

Located at the foot of the majestic Mount Sella, the Fodom Valley is worldwide known for being one of the four valleys of the Sellaronda Ski Tour (or Four Passes Ski Tour) by Dolomiti Superski. The Arabba ski area, belonging to the Municipality of Livinallongo del Col di Lana, is furthermore connected with Marmolada ski slopes through the Passo Padon.

Castello di Andraz - Schloss Buchenstein — Castello di Andraz – Schloss Buchenstein

Statua di Katharina Lanz in piazza a Pieve — The Katharina Lanz statue on the square of Pieve di Livinallongo

Up to the end of the Great War, the Agordino Municipalities of Colle Santa Lucia and Livinallongo del Col di Lana belonged to the Austrian-Hungarian historical region of the Tyrol; the official language of these two places was German, but the native speakers of this part of the Dolomites, together with other 16 Municipalities of the current Trentino and Südtirol, were allowed also to talk in a neo Latin language called indeed “Ladin” (neolateinisch, neo-Latin). These 18 Municipalities were thus called “Ladinia” by the Austrian-Hungarians; nowadays, the area known as Ladinia is divided into two Italian Regions (Veneto and Trentino-Alto Adige) and three Italian Provinces (Belluno, Bolzano and Trento).

The ancient bound with the Tyrol can be identified also in many aspects of the everyday life of the Fodom people: the habit of preserving the property undivided by granting the inheritance exclusively to the eldest son (who in turn pays cash compensation to his younger siblings) rather than fragmenting a property among all the heirs – a custom called “Maso Chiuso” – has allowed the Fodom people to maintain wider single portions of fields if compared to the Municipalities of the lower Agordino.

Furthermore, traces of the ancient connection with the other Ladin valleys of the Dolomites can still be found in many terms of the Fodom local dialect. An interesting place to find out more about the Ladin culture in Livinallongo is the Museum of History, Customs and Traditions of the Ladin people; the museum is open to the public ususally in summer and winter and it is located in the same building as the Town Hall. Another very interesting building to visit is the ancient Andraz Castle (Schloss Buchenstein), located in the hamlet of Castello in Livinallongo, an old Tyrolean manor which has been converted into a museum from a couple of decades. The Museum of the Andraz Castle is open to the public usually in summer. In the small square of Pieve di Livinallongo, a copper statue celebrates the heroine of the anti-Napoleonic resistance Katharina Lanz, which is considered a symbol of the whole Ladinia.

Il Castello di Andraz — The Andraz Castle

Trincee della Grande Guerra sul Col di Lana — Military trenches of the Great War on Mount Sief

Being located right on the Yellow Line (the Alps military front during the Great War), Livinallongo suffered during this period of the worst aspects that every war brings with it: heavy bombardments, the forced deportation of the population, starve and almost two years of bloody trench warfare that ended with the huge detonation of the Col di Lana and Mount Sief (known since then as “Mount of Blood“) with thousands of dead soldiers on both the Italian and the Austrian sides. The Col di Lana has become a symbol of the Great War in the Dolomites, and many war cemetaries (in Salesei and Passo Pordoi) remain in perpetual memory of that horrible time.