History of the valley

Few Dolomite valleys have such an unusual history. For centuries Val di Zoldo lived from iron. When that trade collapsed, the people of Zoldo emigrated and became the ice-cream makers of Europe.

Romans on the Civetta

The oldest traces in the valley are carved into the rock. On the northern slopes of the Civetta above Pecol, in the Val de le Ziolere, there are Roman inscriptions from the 2nd or 3rd century AD. They marked the border between the territories of Bellunum, today's Belluno, and Iulium Carnicum, today's Zuglio in Friuli. In the valley they are simply called the "Scritte Romane". A path leads from Pecol towards the Rifugio Coldai to the rock face. It is best to ask the Val di Zoldo tourist office for the exact route.

Under the Lion of St Mark

From 1404 until the end of the Republic in 1797 the valley belonged to Venice. For the lagoon city it was doubly valuable: its forests supplied timber, among other things for the Arsenal, Venice’s great shipyard, and its forges supplied iron. After the wars of the League of Cambrai (from 1508) the valley enjoyed a period of prosperity.

Even the famous gondolas have a link to our valley. Many of Venice’s boat builders, the squerarioli, were mountain people from Cadore and the Zoldo valley who knew how to work wood. You can still see it at the Squero di San Trovaso in Dorsoduro, one of the oldest gondola yards in the city, dating from the 17th century: the wooden workshop house with its balconies looks more like a Dolomites house than a Venetian palazzo.

After the fall of Venice, French and Austrian rule alternated; finally the valley belonged to the Habsburg Kingdom of Lombardy–Venetia. In 1866, together with the rest of Veneto, it became part of the Kingdom of Italy.

The valley of blacksmiths

The name of the main town says it all: Forno di Zoldo means “furnace of Zoldo”. Ore was mined and smelted in the valley from the Middle Ages. In the late Middle Ages there were said to be seven or eight furnaces, later only three. Place names such as Fusine (from “fucina”, forge) tell the same story.

When the big furnaces in Fusine, Forno and finally Dont closed, the craftsmen specialised in small ironware, above all nails. This gave rise to the trade of the ciodarot, the nail smith. A skilled nail smith is said to have forged up to 500 shoe nails a day. Zoldo nails went into ship hulls, roofs and shoe soles, and many of them to Venice.

In the second half of the 19th century masters and smiths joined forces once more in a “Società Industriale Zoldana”. But they stood no chance against machine-made nails from the new factories. The flood of 1890 hit the workshops along the Maè hard, and the great flood of November 1966 put a final end to iron working.

How hard life was for the miners can be seen in the abandoned village of Arsiera on Col Dur. Lead and zinc ore were mined there; today only ruins remain in the forest, reached by a short walk.

The ice-cream makers of the Zoldo valley

When the nail trade collapsed at the end of the 19th century, many families had to seek their fortune elsewhere. Many became ice-cream makers. Exactly how it began is not entirely clear. The story goes that the first sorbet maker came from neighbouring Zoppè and had learnt the trade in Venice. Written records of artisan ice-cream making from the valley date from 1873. Sugar played its part too: in the 19th century the new sugar beet factories made sugar cheap and affordable for everyone for the first time. Only then could ice cream be made in large quantities and sold at low prices.

At first the men pushed ice-cream carts through the streets of Austria and Germany in summer. After the First World War this became a proper trade: in the 1930s there were dozens of ice-cream parlours run by people from Zoldo in Austria, Germany, the Netherlands and Poland. After the Second World War came the great emigration to the German-speaking countries. In 1969 the ice-cream makers founded their association Uniteis in Frankfurt am Main.

To this day many families from the valley spend spring and summer in their ice-cream parlour in Germany, Austria or the Netherlands and come home in winter.

The full story of the ice cream makers: Ice cream makers →

Timeline

• 2nd/3rd c. ADRoman boundary inscriptions on the Civetta.
• Middle AgesOre mining and iron smelting in the valley, several furnaces.
• 1404–1797The valley belongs to the Republic of Venice. Timber and iron go to the lagoon.
• 1857John Ball climbs Monte Pelmo, one of the first major Dolomite peaks to be climbed.
• 1866The valley becomes part of the Kingdom of Italy.
• 1873First written records of artisan ice-cream making.
• 1890A flood hits the forges along the Maè.
• 1963The Vajont disaster destroys Longarone at the valley entrance.
• 1966The great flood ends iron working for good.
• 1969The ice-cream makers’ association Uniteis is founded in Frankfurt.
• 1972The ice hockey club USG Zoldo is founded in Forno di Zoldo.
• 1990sThe golden era of Zoldo ice hockey: three times in Italy’s top league, in between at the top of the second tier.
• 2009The Dolomites become a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Around this time the Soccampo ice rink loses its roof.
• 23 February 2016Forno di Zoldo and Zoldo Alto merge to form the municipality of Val di Zoldo.
• Autumn 2026The ice rink gets a new roof and is set to reopen.

A valley on ice

Ice hockey is part of the valley’s recent history too. The USG Zoldo club was founded in Forno di Zoldo in 1972 and had its golden era in the 1990s: three times this small mountain valley played in Italy’s top league, and in between it was among the best teams of the second tier. The full story is on the ice hockey page.

The municipality today

Since 2016 the former municipalities of Forno di Zoldo and Zoldo Alto have formed the municipality of Val di Zoldo, with its seat in Fusine. It covers about 142 km² and today has just under 3,000 inhabitants, with the number falling. Little Zoppè di Cadore at the foot of Pelmo is a separate municipality but culturally belongs to the Zoldo area.