VAJONT VALLEY: Vajont tragedy, dam and the environs today

THE DISASTER AND THE DAM TODAY

Vajont valley is formed by the the river Vajont and its closed by the Vajont Dam. It has became famous for the disaster happened in the night of 1963 October 9. Vajont Dam is a dam completed in 1961 under Monte Toc, 100 km north of Venice. It was one of the highest dams in the world measuring 262 metres high. The management of SADE (Società Adriatica di Elettricità), the company building the dam, told the public that the geology of the gorge had been studied, including analysis of ancient landslides, and that it was believed to be sufficiently stable.However, shifts in the rock were noticed during filling and there had been a lesser landslide of under a million cubic meters on November 4, 1960. As a result the water level behind the dam was lowered and the reservoir allowed to refill under controlled monitoring; calculations ordered by management showed that catastrophic failure was unlikely and the valley side could be stabilized over time in this manner. Thus the reservoir was filled and slowly emptied three times. However, Italy was in the process of nationalizing electric utilities (today all electricity is provided by ENEL) and SADE was very anxious to sell the dam and its generators to the newly formed state-owned electric company. On October 9, 1963 at approximately 10:39pm, the combination of the third drawing-down of the reservoir and heavy rains triggered an enormous landslide of about 260 million cubic metres of forest, earth, and rock, which fell into the reservoir at up to 110 km per hour (68 mph). The resulting displacement of water caused 50 million cubic metres of water to overtop the dam in a 250-metre high wave. Despite this, the dam's structure was largely undamaged — the top metre or so of masonry was washed away, but the basic structure remained intact. However, the flooding caused by the landslide destroyed the villages of Longarone, Pirago, Rivalta, Villanova and Faè, killing 1,450 people. Many small villages in the territory of Erto e Casso and the village of Codissago, near Castellavazzo, were largely wrecked. Almost 2,000 people (some sources report 1,909) perished in total. Damage was also caused by the air displacement caused from the immense "splash" in surrounding villages.

THE VILLAGE OF CASSO

Village place over the Vajont dam and grazed by the terrible wave. For the lovers of the walks we advise to take the path behind the public wc situated near the Church. The walk is quite and leads in 45 minutes to Casso that still conserve the atmosphere of the night of the disaster.

PATH TO CASERA (Alpine House) DITTA

After some 300/400 meters from the dam on the left you can see an high stone wall used like cliff arena. Drive along the main street and after two curves turn on the narrow road at your right. We advice you to park your car in the parking at the right side of this road. The road crosses the landslide and reach the village of Pineda allowing you to see the Mount Toc and the famous one Muller " M" formed by the separation of the wall from the mount. After approximately an hour of walking the road comes down to Pineda and on your right there is a path sign that identify the route to Casera Ditta. The path at first in light climb after a ten minutes becomes flat and remain flat for all the route that crosses the forest flanking the Val Mesaz. After to have exceeded the source the river Meisa, there is a crossroad, you have to keep the path that comes down on the left and a short time later it exits from the forest in order to cross screes and pines spots. The path go down and cross the brige on the river "Ge dei Lavéi" that born in the Toc Mount. Then the path go up for a while and then start the little descent; from this point you can see the roof of the Casera Company. Crossed the little bridge on the Mesaz torrent, walk for other 5 minutes and you arrive to the Casera Ditta where you can stay for the night of to have your meal. For the returns you have to walk in the same path.
Difficulty: middle/easy Time of route: 3,5h (journey and return)