Valle di Cadore – Trails and Historic Traces

Valle di Cadore lies on the green valley floor at the foot of Monte Antelao. For planning your trip, trails through the landscape sit alongside a layered history of buildings and archaeological finds.

Trails and Views Around Valle di Cadore

The Lunga Via delle Dolomiti cycle path runs through Valle di Cadore. It is paved and completely closed to motorized traffic; the gradients are steady and manageable. The route can be traveled on foot or by bicycle. This offers a different way to experience the landscape than the climb to Rifugio Costapiana.

From Valle di Cadore, follow the paved road to Rifugio Costapiana, which climbs to the upper part of the town. At a marked bend with a spring and the refuge sign, you can continue on foot in about two hours or by car. As road conditions may change seasonally, check conditions before setting out. From Rifugio Costapiana, S. Dionisio can be reached on foot in about an hour and a half.

From Rifugio Costapiana, the view extends to Monte Antelao and across the upper Valle del Boite. S. Dionisio is a hill nearly 2,000 meters high, offering 360-degree views. The refuge also stands beside the chapel of the same name. It was built and consecrated in 1508 to shelter people who fled the Battle of Rusecco and took refuge in the high mountains.

Historic Buildings and Archaeological Sites

Costa is a historic village where houses with distinctive Venetian features stand alongside traditional Cadore mountain homes and buildings dating from the first centuries AD. The historic Via Romana runs through Costa. Along the route, arches, balconies, coats of arms, and elaborately decorated corners shape the buildings. Visitors interested in architecture will find different styles side by side here, rather than a uniform townscape.

The 18th-century Church of San Martino stands on the ruins of a castle of Roman origin. Its position on a rocky outcrop above Valle del Boite connects the building with a striking landscape setting. Inside are paintings by Antonio Lazzarini and an altarpiece by Francesco da Milano. The church is currently closed for safety reasons.

Archaeological and votive finds of Roman and pre-Roman origin point to a history of Valle di Cadore dating back to the 1st and 2nd centuries AD. Archaeological finds from Valle di Cadore also suggest the existence of an early medieval necropolis dating from the late 6th to early 7th century. The different dates refer to distinct traces of the past.

Three bronze situlae were found at Rusecco in 1910. One bore a Venetic inscription dedicated to Loudera, a deity identified with the Roman Libera and associated with the cycles of death and rebirth in nature. In Fies, in the higher part of the town, a stone slab with a Latin inscription from the 1st century AD was found. It records that Lucius Saufeius donated a schola—a meeting and ceremonial hall—and a solarium, a terrace, to an association or corporation.

Roman traces were also discovered in Stean and Villa: four buildings from this period are thought to have been villas and are dated to the 1st and 2nd centuries AD. Two buildings in Villa are described as having rooms with floral plaster decoration and mosaic floors. One of these rooms measured 15 × 11 meters, another 9 × 9 meters. The decorated rooms belong to the buildings in Villa.

Discover more destinations: Trichiana, Mareson-Pecol, Quero, Nevegal, Forno Di Zoldo, San Nicolò Di Comelico, Ornella, Colderù.

For the main travel guide: Belluno.