HISTORY
The village of Livinallongo del Col di Lana, Fodom in Ladin and Buchenstein in German, is one of the municipalities that make up the 5 Ladin valleys. Located in the upper Val Cordevole, between the Dolomite Passes Pordoi, Campolongo and Falzarego, the territory is situated on the border between the province of Belluno and those of Trento and Bolzano.
Our valley, whose main tourist centre is Arabba, has a very ancient history that began with the presence of the "Salvàns" and the "Ganes", who have now become mythological characters in our legends.
A possession of the Tyrol, around the year one thousand the Andraz Castle was built, which can still be visited and has been carefully restored in recent years. The manor was built to protect the southern border of the Tyrol and then became the residence of the Prince-Bishops of Bressanone, who also held the rights to exploit the Fursil Mines, at Colle Santa Lucia, another historical Ladin site.
Our valley, whose main tourist centre is Arabba, has a very ancient history that began with the presence of the "Salvàns" and the "Ganes", who have now become mythological characters in our legends.
A possession of the Tyrol, around the year one thousand the Andraz Castle was built, which can still be visited and has been carefully restored in recent years. The manor was built to protect the southern border of the Tyrol and then became the residence of the Prince-Bishops of Bressanone, who also held the rights to exploit the Fursil Mines, at Colle Santa Lucia, another historical Ladin site.
Later Livinallongo became possession of the Austrian empire until the end of the First World War, that here had been so bloody.
The name of the village comes from the ladin word "livinal", which means a canyon, subject to landslides, referring probably to the narrow valley that characterizes Cordevole river's course. The entire denomination "Livinallongo del Col di Lana" refers to the same mountain, the so called "Col di Lana", becoming sadly famous because of the bloody period during the First World war until Caporetto defeat in 1917.
The ladin word "Fodom" seems to refer to the beeches that grow here ; from the same origin comes the German name "Buchenstein", that combines the word "Buche" (beech) and "Stein" (stone), maybe referring to the Andraz castle. The ladin identity and the Tyrolen history are today again very important among the population, the reason why they built the museum of History, Customs and Traditions of Ladin people, near the monument of the ladinian heroine Caterina Lanz. Another place symbol is the Arabba ancient mill where rye and barley were ground.
Col di Lana was a place of hard combats during the First World war with 8000 fatalities, where also the name "Col di Sangue"(blood) comes from, the reason why the Col di Lana Monte di Sangue Museum at the Pordoi Pass was built.
A very famous occurrence was the mine explosion of 5 tons dynamite from the Italian sappers on the 17th of April 1916 at 23:35. Some part of mountain collapsed and 150 Austrian militars died, so Italian troups could occupy the peak.
In 1917, after the Caporetto defeat the Italian troups had to leave.
Also today it is possible to notice the enormous crater born after the explosion.
In a short time were built a numerous number of Italian graveyards in Pian di Salesei, Andraz, Castello and also Austrian graveyards in Col di Roda, Valiate, Val Parola (2) and Pordoi Pass.
In 1938 was built the Sacrary of Pian di Salesei with 4700 unkown corpses, 704 known of which 19 Austrian. In 1956 was completed the contruction of the Ossuary at the Pordoi Pass that guards 454 corpses of the Second World war.
In 1935 it was built the chapel of Col di Lana, in honour of the Italian soldiers of the First World war. The war memorial in the square 7th November 1918 in Livinallongo reports the name of 135 soldiers of the Fodom valley.
Starting from spring of 1918 the Fodomian refugees came back to the valley freed from the militars and began to rebuild the village, living temporarily in the militar shacks and in the few houses saved from the bombs.
The reconstruction was helped by the government and the Trentinean consortium of the so-called conquered and released municipalities's charge, completed in 1923-24. With the St. Germain treaty (1923) the municipality of Livinallongo was annexed to the province of Belluno. Ten years later with the Mussolini decree the denomination of "del Col di Lana" was annected at the name, that was confirmed with the municipal referendum proclaimed by the Veneto Region in 1983.
The name of the village comes from the ladin word "livinal", which means a canyon, subject to landslides, referring probably to the narrow valley that characterizes Cordevole river's course. The entire denomination "Livinallongo del Col di Lana" refers to the same mountain, the so called "Col di Lana", becoming sadly famous because of the bloody period during the First World war until Caporetto defeat in 1917.
The ladin word "Fodom" seems to refer to the beeches that grow here ; from the same origin comes the German name "Buchenstein", that combines the word "Buche" (beech) and "Stein" (stone), maybe referring to the Andraz castle. The ladin identity and the Tyrolen history are today again very important among the population, the reason why they built the museum of History, Customs and Traditions of Ladin people, near the monument of the ladinian heroine Caterina Lanz. Another place symbol is the Arabba ancient mill where rye and barley were ground.
Col di Lana was a place of hard combats during the First World war with 8000 fatalities, where also the name "Col di Sangue"(blood) comes from, the reason why the Col di Lana Monte di Sangue Museum at the Pordoi Pass was built.
A very famous occurrence was the mine explosion of 5 tons dynamite from the Italian sappers on the 17th of April 1916 at 23:35. Some part of mountain collapsed and 150 Austrian militars died, so Italian troups could occupy the peak.
In 1917, after the Caporetto defeat the Italian troups had to leave.
Also today it is possible to notice the enormous crater born after the explosion.
In a short time were built a numerous number of Italian graveyards in Pian di Salesei, Andraz, Castello and also Austrian graveyards in Col di Roda, Valiate, Val Parola (2) and Pordoi Pass.
In 1938 was built the Sacrary of Pian di Salesei with 4700 unkown corpses, 704 known of which 19 Austrian. In 1956 was completed the contruction of the Ossuary at the Pordoi Pass that guards 454 corpses of the Second World war.
In 1935 it was built the chapel of Col di Lana, in honour of the Italian soldiers of the First World war. The war memorial in the square 7th November 1918 in Livinallongo reports the name of 135 soldiers of the Fodom valley.
Starting from spring of 1918 the Fodomian refugees came back to the valley freed from the militars and began to rebuild the village, living temporarily in the militar shacks and in the few houses saved from the bombs.
The reconstruction was helped by the government and the Trentinean consortium of the so-called conquered and released municipalities's charge, completed in 1923-24. With the St. Germain treaty (1923) the municipality of Livinallongo was annexed to the province of Belluno. Ten years later with the Mussolini decree the denomination of "del Col di Lana" was annected at the name, that was confirmed with the municipal referendum proclaimed by the Veneto Region in 1983.
