Inauguration of Rifugio Venezia
tipologia
8mm - HMBONVGIU-0015
mountain hut
traditions
Mountain climbing
ceremony
mountains
Filmed by Giuseppe Bonvicini in 1954, the footage documents the inauguration ceremony of Rifugio Venezia at Pelmo, located at 1,946 meters near Vodo di Cadore (Belluno), at the foot of Monte Pelmo (3,168 m) in the Cadore Dolomites.
The opening sequences show the event preparations: people arriving at the refuge, a man shaving in the meadows below, and groups of hikers gathering for the occasion. The footage then follows the official ceremony, featuring local authorities as well as women and youth dressed in traditional Cadore attire.
The film records the reopening of Rifugio Venezia on July 5, 1954, after its reconstruction. The original structure, inaugurated on September 11, 1892, as the first CAI Venezia refuge in the Italian Dolomites, had been burned down by German forces in 1944 during a raid. The new refuge was dedicated to Albamaria De Luca, a young Venetian mountaineer who died in 1947 on Croda da Lago.