Man has left a number of ancient marks in the Cinque Torri-Averau area since the early traces of seasonal settlements of shepherds and woodcutters and the alterations of the environment that followed.
An unpublished collection of 47th vintage postcards of Cortina and surroundings, from the 20's to the 50's .
A shelter for shepherds.
Illustration taken from "Im Hochgebirge", by E. Szigmondy, Leipzig , 1889
Chapter 4 - The Dark with Lombards, Franks and Ottonians
Since the end of the Roman Empire, for nearly eight centuries, we know nothing either about Ampezzo or even about the peoples of Cadore. No scripts, no monuments, no tombs , buildings, not even a stone to tell us how they lived, about their usage and customs or their dwellings. Nothing. The thickest dark surrounds us. Yet it was in those very years that the Ampezzo community was born with its much envied structures and institutions. Some valuable information can be inferred from the history of the neighbouring valleys.
First of all, it is assumed that Barbarian invasions drove new settlers to our valleys, fleeing from unsafe towns. This was also the period when the Paleo-Veneti or Venetic people who lived in the Rienza and Drava valleys, after having pacifically absorbed Roman influences, retreated into the deeper valleys - Fassa, Badia, Gardena, and Livinallongo valleys, scarcely or not at all inhabited by human settlers so far – and gave origin to the so-called Dolomite dialects. Further east, other peoples would find refuge in the hidden valleys of High Carnia and Comelico.
Other considerations concern the long period over which the Lombards ruled Italy. It is certain that Cadore and Ampezzo borrowed from them the political system of the "decanato", dividing the territory and its inhabitants into ten communities, and the "centena" (group of hundred families) or "centuria" or "centenari" to justify the number of soldiers each village would provide for collective defence purposes. It is believed that Cadore borrowed from them the basic institution of the "family communions", called Regole, with the joint ownership of the lands, acquired by allodium.
Some other institutions, like the "vicar", the administrator of justice, would derive from the Franks. During the Frankish rule, the Benedictine monastery of San Candido in Pustorthal was erected by Bavarian duke Tassilone (770) to defend his southern border. His jurisdiction, in fact, bordered on the one of Cadore. Linguistic borders were set around the end of this period: to the north of the mountain ridge, in the regions inhabited by the Bajuvari (diocese of Freising) the German language prevails; to the south, Latin, and later on Italian, will be spoken. Though the families would still speak "Ladin", a language derived from Latin.
Under Berengarius (923), the name of Cadore appears for the first time ever on a parchment by which the ruler confirms the possession of a certain chapel in the area of Treviso to bishop Aimone "cum decimis de cadubrio". A flash of light starts breaking through the dark.
A hundred years go by before we meet emperor Henry IV, who grants to the patriarch of Aquileia the "comitatus" of Friuli, thus making it independent from the region of Verona. The "comitatus" of Friuli includes Cadore and Ampezzo. Thereafter, the region will be a loyal subject to the patriarchs: for secular matters until 1420 when it allies with Venice, for spiritual matters until 1750, when empress Maria Theresa obtains the suppression of the patriarchate by the Pope.
