ENJOY DOLOMITE MOUNTAINS!
‘Enjoy Dolomite Mountains!’ for one day, away from congested city…
Take a breath of clear air and immerse yourself in the Dolomiti natural landscapes, the mountain range located in Northern Veneto on the border with Austria.
‘Enjoy Dolomite Mountains!‘ begins in the morning at Piazzale Roma as you meet our tour guide.
A private luxury car drives us towards Belluno, the northernmost provincial capital of the Veneto Region at 1260 feet altitude.
This town is located down the river Piave, surrounded by the Regional Park of the Belluno Dolomites, an extension of woods of 3.450 square feet that was declared Unesco World Heritage in 2009.
We will head towards the northern Piave and travel long valleys lined with white stone hills, covered with pine trees and low bushes.
Then we arrive at Pieve di Cadore, where the stream Boite flows: this small town played an important role since the Roman age as a trading center at the intersection between two valleys.
In the early 15th century Pieve became the so-called fortress of the Cadore valley, due to the extensive fir, larch, and oak woods, used by Venice primarily for cargo and warships.
The cereals and wood trade, including artisanal products, encouraged the growth of a thriving merchant class eager to increase its social status through art and education.
One of them was the Vecellio family, well established in the area and known for some distinguished members like Gregorio, a refined councilor, and Tiziano Vecellio’s father, born around 1480.
As he moved to Venice, he started a brilliant career as a Renaissance European master, featured in our tours about Tintoretto and Titian.
The young Titian spent his childhood in Pieve di Cadore, where you can still visit his family home that preserves a collection of reproductions of the artist’s drawings.
An 1880 statue of this renowned citizen stands in the middle of Piazza Tiziano, surrounded by the 16th century ‘Palazzo Della Magnifica Comunità di Cadore‘ –Medieval autonomous region-, which was the first seat of the whole Cadore community.
HIGHLIGHTS
- Belluno mountain range
- Pieve di Cadore
- Cortina d’Ampezzo
- Misurina and its Lake
MORE ABOUT
THIS TOUR
Due to the lack of archeological finds concerning prehistoric or Roman ruins in the Cortina Valley, scholars believe that the earliest residential settlements date from the Medieval Age.
In the mid-12th century we bear witness of an independent Community –Magnifica Comunità- that corresponded with a commercial and administrative centre, as well as an ethnic group of people who had lived in the same area over the centuries.
The Republic of Venice was able to rule those people for a hundred years, until 1516 when the troops of Maximilian 1st, the King of the Germans, invaded the Veneto and annexed the northern part of the Region to the Hapsburg Empire.
The whole valley became one of the independent communities including the Val Pusteria and Tyrol, which was divided at the end of the WW1 in two sections, the North Tyrol to Austria, and the South Tyrol to Italy as a bilingual region.
DRESS CODE AND ADVICE
- Comfortable shoes and warm clothes, expecially in mid-season.
COST
- This tour lasts approximately 9 hours and costs 1.350 euros
- Professional English-speaking tour guide
- Luxury car or van
- Private parties only
- Apply for more information!