Europe’s Longest Chairlift
tipologia
9,5mm - HMDERIFAM-0001
Filmed in 9.5 mm by the De Riso family in the 1950s, this clip captures a winter day in the Dolomites, spanning the Sella Group, Passo Gardena, and the Sciliar. The footage opens with the Selva–Dantercepies single-seater chairlift, inaugurated in 1950 and at the time the longest in Europe at 2,500 meters. The presence of numbered metal pylons and the original stations helps date the film to the early 1950s through the mid-1960s, before the chairlift was replaced by a cable car. Shots alternate between panoramic views of snowy valleys and slopes, skiers in motion, and stops along the pistes, including close-ups of the Sassolungo Group and vistas around Passo Sella. The film provides a vivid record of early winter tourism in Val Gardena, which emerged in the 1950s with the opening of ski lifts, hotels, and accommodations, fueling the local postwar economy.