A little above Fornesighe, in the forest by the Cervegana stream, lies Arsiera. The houses are still standing, but nobody has lived here for a long time. Walk up and you find a piece of Zoldo history you usually only read about.
A miners’ village
The name Arsiera is tied to mining. Above the village, on the slopes of Col Dur, miners dug galena and sphalerite, ores of lead and zinc rather than the iron worked elsewhere in the valley. The tunnels are said to have been in use until about 1880. After that people lived from meadows, livestock and forest, and Arsiera became a summer village where families brought their animals.
Why Arsiera was abandoned
With the end of mining, and later the emigration of many Zoldo families as ice-cream makers, the village emptied. People still lived here until the middle of the 20th century, then the last resident left his farm. Some sources link the final end to the great flood of November 1966, which hit the whole valley, but this is not firmly documented.
The walk
The start is Ponte Cervegana (about 1,120 m) on the road to Passo Cibiana, some two kilometres past Fornesighe. An easy forest road follows the stream up to the village. The walk is easy and takes about two hours there and back. On the way you cross the Via del Ferro, the iron trail recalling the valley’s mining and smithing past. There is a description on dolomiti.org and one with photos on La Traccia.
Please be respectful
The old houses are private property and some are unsafe. Please do not go inside, take nothing away and never enter the mine tunnels.
More on the valley’s mining and smithing history on the history page.