The history of Vajont is well known, but visiting the Vajont dam and the adjacent sites between Erto and Casso is an incredible experience, with a strong emotional impact.

We had booked a three-hour visit (information and reservations at the Parco delle Dolomiti Friulane 0427 87333) which included an excursion to the foot of Monte Toc and the crossing of the sadly famous dam; yet I never imagined that the Vajont story could move me so much.

Our guide was not only very well prepared, but with his tale he succeeded in making us relive every detail of what had happened here fifty years ago. During the walk, the different characters involved the story seemed to materialise and we soon understood why the immense landslide occurred on 9 October 1963. Roaring into the reservoir constructed by the SADE group, the landslide raised three gigantic waves, sowing death and destruction in the villages of Erto and Casso and, above all, beyond the dam, down in the Piave valley and the town of Longarone.

The story, already in itself very exciting, is illustrated and enriched by the breathtaking view of the gigantic “M” left by the landslide on Monte Toc and by walking through the evocative “Bosco Vecchio”, a forest made more unsettling by the large trees that survived the landslide but subsequently grew at off angles. The view that appears as you cross the dam, more than 260 metres high and overlooking the deep canyon of the Vajont is highly spectacular, and does more than anything else to give a picture of the route and the violence the water had as it swept over the dam.

This experience is really exciting: it enriches you and makes you reflect, both on the greed and carelessness of mankind, and on the strength and majesty of Nature.