‘The Dolomites. Mountains, people and their stories’, documentaries on sale every Friday with the newspapers Messaggero Veneto and Il Piccolo. 23 October for a meeting with Badaloni in Trieste
‘The Dolomites. Mountains, people and their stories’
the six documentaries available at newsagents from 6 October!
At newsagents at a price of 8.50 euro plus the cost of the paper, on sale with the newspapers Messaggero Veneto and Il Piccolo, DVDs of the documentary series Dolomiti. Montagne – Uomini – Storie.
From Friday 20 October, for one week the episode entitled Il Fascino del Sublime (The Allure of the Sublime) will be on sale, the following Friday 27 October, for one week it will be possible to buy L’ambiente Naturale e la sua Tutela (The Natural Environment and its Protection). Friday 3 November and Friday 10 November will see the release of the fifth and sixth episodes, the former all about Gli abitanti dell’arcipelago (The Inhabitants of the Archipelago) and the latter entitled Dal Passato al Futuro (From the Past to the Future)
‘The Dolomites. Mountains, people and their stories’ are six documentaries about the UNESCO Dolomites World Heritage Site. They were commissioned by the UNESCO Dolomites Foundation in 2013 to Piero Badaloni to present the Dolomites just as UNESCO had recognised them, namely as a single entity with no territorial divisions. The documentary takes us on a journey as we explore the extraordinary landscape of the “Pale Mountains”, discover their exceptional importance for the history of the Earth, and listen to stories of the ups and downs of the men and women who have lived there for centuries, shaping the landscape, economy and culture. Piero Badaloni made the documentary with the collaboration of Fausta Slanzi and with photography and editing by Nicola Berti.
Piero Badaloni in Trieste Monday 23 October
Your chance to meet the director of these documentaries.
Journalist Piero Badaloni will be a guest of the magnificent city of Trieste on Monday 23 October. Together with him and the President of the UNESCO Dolomites Foundation, Mariagrazia Santoro, we will be able to discover some fascinating facts about the most remote corners of the Dolomites and listen to anecdotes about the many people encountered during the months of shooting. The date is fixed for Monday 23 October at 8.30pm at the Cinema Ariston, Viale Romolo Gessi 14, Trieste. The meeting will be moderated by the Director of the daily newspaper Il Piccolo, Enzo d’Antona.
The event will include a screening of the documentary Dolomiti. Viaggio nell’arcipelago fossile (The Dolomites. A Journey in the Fossil Archipelago) directed by Piero Badaloni in collaboration with Fausta Slanzi and with photography and graphic design by Nicola Berti.
Episodes on sale in newsagents
Il fascino del sublime (The allure of the sublime)
It is no surprise that the Dolomites became world famous in the 19th Century. To the British and Germans the Pale Mountains seemed the perfect embodiment of the ideals of the Romantic age. Theirs is a disquieting, rather than a reassuring beauty: Il fascino del sublime (The allure of the sublime) takes a stroll through the works of art inspired by the Dolomites. The Marmarole peaks were possibly the inspiration for the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary by Titian, then there is the Michelangelo of wood, the wooden toys from Val Gardena, the woodland house where Mahler composed his music, Cortina with its coterie of intellectuals, film, photography etc..
L’ambiente naturale e la sua tutela (The natural environment and its protection)
The Dolomites are still a paradise for flora and fauna, an ecosystem boasting no fewer than 2,400 plant species. From such wild animals as the bear to the lovely edelweiss flower, the natural treasure trove that is the Dolomites is protected by 9 park authorities and the institution known as Le Regole. Le Regole is an ancient system for the collective management of natural resources that are inevitably more limited in mountain areas, and it still thrives today. The people of the Dolomites have always been conscious of the need for great care and thrift in the management of such priceless resources as woodlands, meadows, animals and water and the Vajont disaster is an example of what can happen when human beings turn a deaf ear to the mountains. L’ambiente naturale e la sua tutela (The natural environment and its protection) tells this whole story, and much more besides, the return of young people to highland farming, Stradivarius violins, Alpine lakes, the capercaillie and the UNESCO Dolomites Foundation’s commitment to protecting a heritage that belongs to the entire human species.
Gli abitanti dell’arcipelago (The inhabitants of the archipelago)
Gli abitanti dell’arcipelago (The inhabitants of the archipelago) is dedicated to those who live their sometimes tough lives in the Dolomites. It tells of Ladinia, a place that does not exist on any maps, but that has for centuries been the homeland of many of those who live, get married, bear children, work and play among these Pale Mountains. The film also shows the riotous Carnival time when the people parade in their traditional wooden masks. A tenacious language and culture that strengthens with the passing of time, homes and modes of living put to test by the cold and the solitude, deep-seated religious beliefs and horrific witch-hunts. The Dolomite landscape is living proof of human interaction with the natural world, a centuries-old lesson in survival at dizzying heights. Among legends and superstitions, emigration and traditional crafts, the story of the Dolomites is, above all, the story of the Pale Mountain folk.
Dal passato al futuro (From the past to the future)
The changing relationship between the mountains and their inhabitants over time is the subject of the last instalment, Dal passato al futuro (From the past to the future). The 20th Century marked dramatic changes for the Dolomites, from the slaughter of the Great Wold War to the advent of mass tourism in the wake of the motorcar, the 1956 Winter Olympics and the new fashion for skiing, the Giro d’Italia and the passion for cycling, the proliferation of mountain refuges and of course the traffic problems. Despite all these upheavals, the people of the Dolomites have managed to retain their identity and their bond with the land and, for all those who live there, the Dolomites remain a landscape of the soul.