The Bramezza Village
In the Municipality of Rocca Pietore – Marmolada there’s a tiny hamlet of the Dolomites UNESCO World Natural heritage Site with abnormal architectural features for the area: it is the ancient village of Bramezza. This place, reachable only on foot, is an abandoned village characterized by strange houses with chimneys which vaguely recall Turkish architectural motifs. According to the popular tradition (also supported by some historical data), after the great Battle of Lepanto (1571) between the “Serenissima” Republic of Venice and the Ottoman Empire, Venice would have imprisoned the Turkish prisoners in this area of the Dolomites UNESCO World Natural Heirtage Site in order to make them work in the production of coal for the several melting furnaces of the Agordino area and in the supply of timber for Venice. This may seem like a theory, but it is actually supported by the presence of strange toponyms in the area: for an example, the neighboring village of “Caracoi” seems to derive from the turkish place name “Kara Koy“, which means “black village“.
