Vallesella

CHAPTER X

VALLE DI CADORE TO CORTINA

Soppiano - Venas Cibiana-The ChiusaVinigo — Peaio — Vodo — Cancia — Borca-San VitoChiapuzza-Acquabona-Zuel

(Cortina in Austria 16 miles from Valle; ascent of road 1170 feet; Italian frontier 12 miles; Austrian Custom-house at Acquabona 14 miles, where travellers' luggage examined. Diligences leave Valle 6.30 A.M., and 5.20 P.M., arriving at Cortina at 10.10 A.M. and 9 P.M., fare 3 fr. Private carriage: with one horse, II fr. ; with two horses, 25 fr.

Hotels at Cortina frequented chiefly by English-Stella d'Oro and Faloria; pension from 3 florins.)

AT Valle di Cadore we entered the domain of the monarch mountain of this region, Antelao, and it was mainly through its territory that the next stage of our journey lay, our road running along its slopes, winding westward and northward up the Boite Valley. Soon after starting we came close under its precipitous cliffs, as we went up a small lateral valley to its narrowest point, in order to cross by a bridge the torrent Sella-one of the many that Antelao sends down to feed the Boite. The road here is cut into the side of the mountain, with a wall of rock on the one side, and a steep slope on the other, so it is a somewhat dangerous spot for peasants with burdens who have to pass above or below it, and we saw two crosses painted in white on rocks by the roadside, marking places where fatal accidents had occurred. One of these was close to the bridge, and beside it there was a stone with this inscription: "The peace of

Christ to Stefano da Cal, a roadman aged sixty, who here met an instantaneous death by falling down the mountain while carrying a load of wood, May 2, 1888." The phrase, "The peace of Christ," is a remnant of the Pauline Christianity of Cadore. Such accidents unhappily are not rare, as the peasants often go to great heights in search of wood, or to cut hay, and, descending by dangerous narrow paths, along steep slopes, and above precipices, though their shoes are made with long sharp nails in the heels for safety, they sometimes slip and lose their lives. On the torrent above the bridge are some saw-mills, and below it are others in the village of Vallesina, which consists of a few old houses. Its position looks a very dangerous one, as a landslip from Antelao, or the torrent Sella in flood, might sweep it bodily away—and indeed disasters of the kind have happened to it more than once.

A little beyond this point a very fine view is to be had. Far below the Boite river is seen, rushing between wooded slopes, then disappearing as it passes beneath the Pocroce bridge which spans the cliffs at the altitude of nearly 200 feet, then reappearing as it dashes away over its rocky bed, between precipices over 600 feet in height. We next passed the little hamlet of Suppiane, consisting of a few houses of the old type clustered on a height above the road, and shortly afterwards we reached Venas.

The first and most conspicuous building in Venas (three miles from Valle) is its big white church by the road-side. This church of S. Marco affords another illustration of what I have already observed, namely, that the religion of these mountaineers penetrates through and rises above mere external rites and forms. On its façade, above its great portal, are painted these words: "The external temple belongs to God; see that that of the heart is not given to His enemy." "The temple made with hands is pleasing to God, but the temple more pleasing to Him is the heart free from evil." Sæpe Dominum ut venerais in templo, fides docet, spes compellit, ut pie sistas, charitas ipse clamat.”

In the church there is a good altar-piece attributed to

Titian. In it the Madonna with clasped hands adores her Infant on her knee, while two angels hold back curtains. On her right stands the Evangelist, St. Mark, with a book in his left hand, and a quill pen in the other, as if in the act of writing his gospel. At his feet is his symbol of the lion. At the Madonna's left hand stand two saints. Ignorant of the true value of this picture, the church authorities in 1864, that is, when Cadore was still under Austria, sold it to a Venetian merchant for a little over sixty pounds. When the Cadorini learned of their loss, they protested against the sale, and were successful in having it cancelled and the picture restored to its place. At a side altar is another pretty picture, of a Madonna with saints, after Titian's school. The church is built out over the steep slope of the valley, on a platform raised to the level of the road; and from a terrace which runs round the church on the edge of this platform a most splendid view is obtained of the Boite Valley, of the village of Valle, and eastward beyond to the fort of Monte Zucco and the castle of Pieve.

But beautiful though that view is we turned from it to look in another direction, to the little valley that branches off to the south-west, sloping upward to the pass (forca) of Mount Sfornioi. It is the valley of the Rite, a torrent that falls into the Boite. It looks silent and solitary, but it was once a busy place, for during the heyday of the Republic of Venice iron mines were worked there, and smelting furnaces lit up the valley at night; and not only did the mountaineers send down metal to the Arsenal of Venice, but they had foundries where they cast guns and cannons for the Republic. There were several other mines, yielding not only iron, but lead, zinc, and quicksilver. One of them was owned, or leased, by Cristoforo Vecellio, a member of the Titian family. Few traces of these mines now remain, although the site of one can be seen from the Venas road. It is high up the valley, among the bare white slopes of Mount Dubiea. The mines, it is said, are by no means exhausted, but for lack of fuel and because of the difficulty of carriage, it no longer pays to work them.