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An unpublished collection of 47th vintage postcards of Cortina and surroundings, from the 20's to the 50's .
From "Il Castello di Pieve di Cadore"
Giovanni Fabiani 1973
Chapter 7 - Il Buon Bertrando
Let's take a step backward to better understand the patriarchs of Aquileia, under whose direct temporal dominion our village spent a happy century. In 1347, the sisters da Camino were complaining about the lost mountain fief, Charles IV had gone back to his Bohemia and the patriarch that Dante names "il buon Bertrando" (gentle Bertrando) came to take direct possession of Cadore. On the 31st of May, in the castle of Pieve he welcomed the fifty delegates from the ten "centurie" who had come to devoutly kiss his ring and pay their respects. However, they were to submit a few "small" requests that His Beatitude graciously accepted.
The "centuria" of Ampezzo was represented by "marigo Zanetto Costantini, officers Giovanni and Zanetto da Campo and Giacomo, innkeeper of Aquabona". Chancellor Odorico Soldano thus recorded the great event: "We, Bertrando, by the grace of God, patriarch of the Holy See of Aquileia, in recognition of their loyalty and devotion, have agreed to the petitions submitted and graciously approve them in our behalf, in the behalf of our successors, and of the church of Aquileia and so be they. "We synthesize, certainly in less noble words. The patriarch would send a clever governor able to defend the two castles and a vicar, expert in law, to administer justice. No foreigner would be allowed the privilege to oversee to goods transportation in the Cadore territory – this had always been a privilege of the Cadorini who operated a system called "a rodolo" (in turns). All the customs, rules and laws, which they had codified in a "corpus" (body) called Statutes, were confirmed as well as future amendments and changes that they would submit to him for ratification. No man from Cadore would be compelled to leave his land to become a soldier, unless it were for the purpose of defending the territories of the Holy Church of Aquileia. Finally, the union of the districts of Cadore and Caprile was confirmed with all its rights over mines, properties, and jurisdiction, from Ospitale, north of Ampezzo, as far as Termine on the road to Belluno. These almost revolutionary concessions had been examined in detail by the fifty delegates in the ten years since the end of the counts da Camino's rule. They took advantage from the favourable moment and saw their claims turned into rights, which in the next six centuries would be the foundations for their wonderful and much envied autonomy.
