7 - The landslide of Prà and Lagunàz

. Posted in Geological itinerary of San Lucano Valley

7 The landslide of Prà and Lagunàz (812 m a.s.l.) - The chronicle of a death foretold

This is how Ottone Brentari described this location in his “Guida Storico-Alpina di Belluno – Feltre – Primiero – Agordo – Zoldo” from 1887:

“Lagunàz is a delightful bundle of half a dozen cabins on the banks of the stream; it is surrounded by meadows with scattered cherry trees and huddles right under the imposing crack inside the walls of the Pale. The road finishes at Prà and represents a row of houses under the rock. The fields and the meadows that grow corn, beans, rye and potatoes have been ruined for the most part by the flood of 1882. There is a tiny church with a room attached that is used as a school. The village pub serves wine and brandy."

The picture painted in our mind's eye is completely different from the situation now largely because of two occurrences. The most important event is certainly the landslide that fell in the night between the 2nd and the 3rd of December 1908 from Quarta Pala di San Lucano and to be more precise, from Pizet at an altitude of approximately 2100 metres. The rocky mass plunged 1300 metres into the valley floor and swept away the hamlets. The second and more subtle phenomenon is the exodus from the mountain and the abandonment of the subsistence agriculture practiced in the Dolomite valleys.

The landslide of Prà and Lagunàz is characterised by a special and poignant history. Several Viennese geologists studied the Pala-Group of San Lucano in the mid-1800s, when Agordino was still part of the Kingdom of Lombardy-Venetia; they identified an open fissure that ran parallel to the slope, which at the time was represented as Cime di Ambrosogn on the maps (now PIzet).

The inhabitants of the valley were forewarned about the imminent danger and the authorities ordered their relocation to Listolade, near Roch de Buos, at the foot of Mount Framont. The villagers decided against the move, however, especially when, on May 11, 1865, a landslide from Lastia del Framont collapsed in the vicinity of the very spot chosen as their new home, causing two victims.

With the arrival of the Kingdom of Italy with its “usual geological sensibility”, with which our ruling class was distinguished, the potential danger of a landslide was forgotten and the inhabitants of the valley continued with their daily lives until that tragic night, when part of the overhanging pillar of Pizzet detached suddenly; the pillar appeared to be solid and was composed of Schlern Dolomite - in reality it was crisscrossed by faults and fractures. A rocky mass of approx. 200000 cubic metres collapsed and hit the rocky ridge situated to the east of Van del Pez; it then split in two parts and the shattered material plummeted towards the two hamlets, causing 28 victims.

Back cover of Domenica del Corriere, 13-20 December, 1908 where the tragedy of Prà and Lagunàz was depicted by Achille Beltrame in watercolour (Umberto Repetti collection).

The remaining tip of the rock with a volume of 100.000 cubic metres (FENTI 2009) is undermined by shattered rocks and surrounded by a vast crevice. The pillar was affected by minor falls in 2011 and 2012 which are a reminder of the constant danger on the road to Col di Prà.

After four hundred meters we reach Col di Prà built on the edge of the alluvial fan of the Bordina stream, in full view of the north face of Monte Agnèr.

May, 2010

November, 2010

May, 2013

Cime dei Pizzet and Quarta Pala di San Lucano underneath Pizzet - the rocky pillar that divided the landslide from 1908 in two. The series of images (May 2010, November 2010, May 2013) shows the recent development of the landslide. There is no sign of activity in the first image; the second documents a modest gap, whereas the third shows a more substantial gap that changes the shape of Pizzet (photo DG).

View of the perimeter crack that surrounds the unstable mass of Cima dei Pizzet (July 6, 2010) (photo DG).