Union of Ampezzo Ladins 50 years

Concept and texts: Romina Venier
Photographs: Giuseppe Ghedina

Design and graphic layout: Gianluca Magri @Bit Runner Studio
Language: Italian
Format: Softcover 16 x 24 cm
128 pages
ISBN 9788831403788

"A village means not being alone, knowing that among the people, in the plants, in the earth there is something of yours, that even when you are not there it waits for you."

The quote from this splendid verse by Cesare Pavese from "The Moon and the Bonfires" is the guiding thread of this volume, which summarizes what has been done by the Union De i Ladis de Anpezo in 50 years since their foundation in 1975.

This is not an anonymous and boring list, but rather the story of how a minority people has developed a constant and profound bond with its land and its language to ensure the survival of its cultural identity.

The communal life of the forest thus becomes the representation of their union; the warmth of the štùa, the heart of the Ampezzo house, is the welcoming of the Institution of the Ampezzo Rules, a fundamental pillar of the management of the Ampezzo territory over the centuries; the stream is the expression of their language; the concreteness of the earth acquires the names of people; the seed and its germination represent tenacious women; the richness of a meadow preserves the multiplicity of culture; the sound of bells are the skirts of traditional costumes caught by a sudden gust; the manure heap is the richness of museums; the šatùl, the casket given to young brides, contains the future.

A volume that must continue to tell stories, and it does so also with numerous interviews collected by the author and listenable through the simple use of QR codes, hidden among the pages.