ALONG THE WATER

This is a story which goes back many centuries; it starts out in the forests of the North of Belluno and goes right on to the sea, via the Piave River .

It is a long story, played out along the waters which gave rise to mills and factories. These lands were once alive with woodsmen, raftsmen and menadàs, who up until the beginning of the 20^th century guaranteed orders of 350,000 tree trunks a year to supply the Serenissima.  In Codissago di Castellavazzo [1], in the Museum of the Timber Raftsmen of the Piave, you can see a reconstruction of an old water-powered Venetian-style sawmill. It is similar to the Ampezzan sawmill, near the hamlet of Goima in Zoldo Alto [2]. Built in 1889, the mill remained operative (thanks to the implementation of modern machinery) until just a few years ago. There also used to be numerous sawmills in the Agordino [3]:  for example the one in San Tomaso Agordino, the original building of which has remained intact; or the fine Ornella [4] sawmill up in Livinallongo del Col di Lana.

Moving on to Comelico Superiore, near the Ponte Padola bridge, you can see the Zandonella - Amati  (Comelico Superiore [5]) sawmill, the structure of which remains well-preserved. There is documentary evidence of the mill in the area dating back to the last century, when it still contained two Venetian-style saws, which after the great flood in 1966 were replaced by a cast-iron crown saw, which is still visible. In the Arn Valley [6], after Innervillgraten, you can visit the Wegelate Säge: the Venetian-style water-powered sawmill which was destroyed by an avalanche in 1951 and immediately rebuilt that same year, remaining operative until 1968. The plant was built in 1883 for co-operative use, i.e. it was founded on a contract under which the owner undertook to cut the wood from its 28 members at a fixed price, in exchange for their help and materials to build the sawmill.