Legends that need to be read

Above Canazei, the Dolomites road passes over the verdant Col di Rone and offers a magnificent view of the valley below, including Delba and the Contrìn mountains. Below the hill there is a vast basin covered with lush meadows which was undoubtedly the former site of a lake. Even today, locals remember that reeds once grew there, hence the name Canazei, or reed thicket, while in even older times, there was a lake called “Lec d'Ardjènt” or Silver Lake. This was because it was said that a vast quantity of silver was hidden at its bottom, and people believed that this treasure came from the Aurona.

For a long time, above all else the king of the Fanes had wanted to amass a vast amount of treasure for his crown. He had attempted to enter the Aurona River several times, but had never managed to find its source, now completely hidden beneath the crumbling earth. Having heard of the Silver Lake, he traveled to the Fassa Valley with his entourage and Dolasilla, now a beautiful girl, to try and dig out the treasure. He had several boats built just for this, and he ordered the lakebed to be searched with long hooked poles, but to no avail: the silent white lake did not reveal its secret.

One day, some men from the king's entourage discovered a number of caves called “Foppes d'Ardjènt" (Silver Pits) on the slope of the mountain north of the lake. In one of them they found heavy silver bars, precious jewels, and a little box, also made of silver, which contained a piece of white skin and a little grey dust. The king was admiring the recovered objects with great satisfaction when three dwarves emerged from the mountain and begged him not to deprive them of their treasure, for they had worked and toiled all their lives to accumulate it. When they saw that the king remained impassive and had the gold and gems bagged up to take away, they begged him to at least leave them the little box with the skin and dust, and take everything else.

“So” said the king “the box is the most important thing. Dolasilla, take it and guard it carefully.”

The princess obeyed, even though she felt sorry for the three men. But as she took the box, she noticed the threatening look one of the dwarves was giving the king, a look so evil that Dolasilla was afraid, although the king himself didn’t notice. He left the cave with his men and took the road to Penìa, passing around the foot of the mountains north of Canazei. At the point where the space between the mountain and the river narrows, the road curves around a sharp rock face called Crepa de Ronc. Having reached that point, Dolasilla stopped, since throughout the journey, she had been worried sick by fear of the dwarves' revenge against her father. As a result, she had decided to return the box to them, in order to spare the king some terrible misfortune, and that particular point on the road seemed the most suitable for returning unnoticed. So she retraced her steps until once in the forest, she came across the three little men, who were crying so loudly and sadly that they moved everyone to pity. The princess felt her heart gripped by a pang of sadness mixed with compassion. She timidly approached the dwarves and said “Here, take your box back and don't be angry with us.”

The dwarves' grief was suddenly transformed into boundless joy. Laughing with delight, they took Dolasilla's hand and expressed their gratitude. Then one of them said to her, “Since you have been so good and kind, please come with us to the lake and throw the grey dust from the little box into it, because that is something that we cannot do.”

The princess followed the dwarves and did as they wanted. Then the happy little men said to her “Now the treasure at the bottom of the lake will begin to grow, and, thanks to that dust, we have been freed from the spell that bound us and we can return to our mountains. As a token of our gratitude, we give you the box and the piece of skin. Make it into a suit of armour, because you will become a strong and glorious warrior like no other and you will have superhuman strength. This will last until your wedding day, when you will become a woman like every other one. And, princess, keep one thing in mind: your armour will be as white as the peak of the Marmolada. But if one day it should change colour, whatever you do, don't go into battle on that day!”

With that, the dwarves disappeared into the thick fir forest that climbs towards Col di Tena.