A first unsuccessful attempt, occurred in the previous autumn, had been stopped south of Rovereto; a second attempt, also, on the way of Valsugana had not turned out well. The only way down was along the Boite, where his men had clashed against the rock of Botestagno. Nobody in Cadore thought that the Germans would have the courage to face the snow barrier from Landro to Misurina.

On the 23rd February, Trautson resumed the march, but in the afternoon he had to stop again before the fortified place of the Chiusa (dam) where the Cadorini had taken up a defensive position. Without losing heart, his men strong of their mountaineering expertise climbed up to Vinigo and to the Sadorno saddle to attack the defendants, unexpectedly, from behind. The latter could hardly take refuge in the castle of Pieve and were promptly imitated by the notables of the village with all their riches. By then, the villagers had fled up into the mountains while messengers were sent to Venice to report the bad news.

On Thursday 24th, Trautson laid siege to the castle threatening, through the parish priest of Valle who acted as interpreter , he would put the village to fire and sword if they refused to open the doors. The young and inexperienced lord of the castle, Pietro Gissi, waited no further; weeping for his own life, he gave the order to let the Germans in. The defendants – among them, Francesco, brother of painter Tiziano, and notary Palatini, whom we owe the news about the deed – begged for resistance, ensuring that reinforcements would soon come as Venice was organizing all the soldiers to regain Cadore, but it was no use. The Germans occupied the castle, hanged the garrison and let the civilians free only after depriving them of all their possessions.

Meanwhile, a column, commanded by a Savorgnano, was marching from Carnia to Cadore over the Mauria pass. A second, better trained one, reinforced by a few hundred of mercenaries - called stradiots - and by artillery was rushing up from Feltre under Bartolomeo d'Alviano's command. They were to attack together by surrounding the Germans. Yet, at Valle, after a hard march over the snow-clad Cibiana saddle, Alviano's men revealed their presence by lighting fires. Trautson hoped he would have enough time to march back home and left the fortress hastily.
It was the 2nd March, 1508, the last day of carnival. The Venetians had devised a very simple trap: at the flanks, hidden among the trees, Alviano had placed the stradiots, he himself with the "falconets" were hiding among the houses of Valle. Trautson, who may have had his wife and some other relatives on a sledge with him, was marching steadily off, but the pincers suddenly tightened on the long column and it was a massacre. Venetian chroniclers reported that as many as 1,800 German soldiers – all the captains among them – died on the battlefield. As Alviano himself reported to the Senate, fewer than 50 Venetians were killed, very few prisoners were taken to Venice, even fewer could survive the massacre because the stradiots, who had been promised a scudo for each head of German soldier killed, hunted them up in the mountains. We do not known if anyone managed to get back to Pustorthal, perhaps nobody did. Sanudo writes that the pope, on hearing the ambassadors immediately sent from Venice, though quite pleased about the victory, was much afflicted for the high number of deaths. Maximilian learnt about the slaughter some time later while he was guest of the bishop of Trento. Never had he lost so many men in one battle, and never such a disaster would happen again in that war. Most of the victims were farmers who used to raise their arms to his service when the harvesting season was over. Therefore, a fierce vengeance was to be expected. The next year, 1509, the war started again. The Germans came back to Cadore and Ampezzo on the way of Trento and Valsugana, ravaging and burning down the region; yet the castles of Pieve and Botestagno, which had been quickly re-occupied by the Venetians, resisted all assaults. Yet Maximilian did conquer Belluno, Treviso, Bassano, Padova and Vicenza which were spared, while he burnt down Solagna, the Mira castle, a few miles from Venice, and the town of Feltre. By then, the war had extended to France, Savoy, Este, Spain, etc. It eventually died down 1n 1510, but only to burst out again in the following year. In August, the emperor himself took the command of the army who was laying siege to Botestagno and Pieve. Venice, almost at the end of its strengths, could not send reinforcements. Eventually, the castle of Pieve, half destroyed by artillery fire, had to surrender. All the valuable object were sacked, included the already mentioned precious code which was brought to Trento and then to Innsbruck. Botestagno was still bravely resisting the siege; but one day the defendants sent a message to the emperor to negotiate their surrender. After a four-year long siege, the Germans eventually entered the proud fortress against a ransom. They would never leave it. The Ampezzo community became Austrian and imperial, after being ensured by the emperor himself that it would not be annexed to Pustorthal but would still govern itself with the same laws and customs already enjoyed under the Venetian rule,. The peace treaty was signed in 1518 under the pope's auspices and useless was the insistence by Venetian ambassadors to get back Botestagno, Ampezzo and other towns of the lagoon.

History had turned another page. Ampezzo had been living happily with Cadore for centuries, now they separated and Ampezzo would become a loyal subject of the empire till the first world war. The religious tie with the patriarchate of Aquileia-Udine, instead, was maintained and lasted till the rule of Maria Theresa.