AURONZO AND CORTINA LOOKING TO THE FUTURE UNDER THE BANNER OF THE UNESCO DOLOMITES

Mountains don’t separate us, they unite us, even more so if they are recognised as a heritage for the entire world. The mayors of Auronzo and Cortina are quite aware of this and for 2018, they decided to get together to organise a joint evening event held on 4 January at the Teatro Kursaal in Auronzo celebrating the latest work of filmmaker Giovanni Carraro, a documentary entitled Col dei Bos – la montagna dell’ambra (the amber mountain) about a peak in the Tofane-Falzarego chain.

This marks a great beginning to 2018, boding well for the rest of a year that could be packed with meetings and joint projects, displaying a willingness to look beyond local authority borders in order to be together as one people in the UNESCO Dolomites. The municipal authorities are playing a decisive role in this process, and it came as no surprise when at the last meeting of Foundation’s Board of Supporters, the President Maria Grazia Santoro launched an appeal to all the municipal authorities to become part of this board, as have Auronzo, Cortina and another seventy municipal and mountain community authorities.

This in itself is a good sign. But of even greater significance was the evening when the Carraro documentary about Col dei Bos was shown, also in the company of Andrea Cecchella, head of the local TV station Telebelluno. This short film was a marvellous blend of useful information for hikers with interesting facts about the history, natural environment and landscape.

The scene of fierce fighting during the First World War, Col dei Bos is also a site of great scientific interest, as stated by geologist Gianluca Piccin, thanks in particular to the presence in the Heiligkreuz Formation, of amber, a fossil resin able to trap microorganisms, pollen and insects for millions of years, thus preserving priceless information for studies of the geological periods and the life forms present on earth during these eras.

At the end of the evening the Mayor of Auronzo, Tatiana Pais Becher, presented the Mayor of Cortina, Gianpietro Ghedina, with the municipal coat of arms. This ongoing emphasis on the will to work together in partnership should send out a message to the whole of the territory, stating how UNESCO listing offers everyone, administrators, business people and citizens alike, some golden opportunities and it also demands as many responsibilities in return. In order to seize the opportunities, the responsibilities must also be shouldered, among them developing the ability to look beyond local borders in order to work on and enhance all that brings the inhabitants of the various valleys together. In the end, understanding and shouldering this responsibility can become in itself the greatest opportunity offered by UNESCO recognition.