On Friday 21 July and Friday 28 July don’t forget to drop in at your newsagent to complete your collection! The DVDs cost Euro 8.50 and are available with the Corriere delle Alpi, the Tribuna di Treviso, the Nuova di Venezia e Mestre and the Mattino di Padova
On Friday 21 July the episode entitled ‘The inhabitants of the archipelago’ will be available for one week, while on the following Friday – 28 July – the documentary ‘From the past to the future’ will be on sale for seven days, too..
‘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.
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.
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.