ir fairs
and festivals are the most considerable in all the South Eastern Tyrol;
their principal church is the largest this side of St. Ulrich; and their
new Gothic Campanile, 250 feet high, might suitably adorn the piazza of
such cities as Bergamo or Belluno.
The village contains about 700 souls, but the population of the Commune
numbers over 2,500. Of these, the greater part, old and young, rich and
poor, men, women, and children, are engaged in the timber trade. Some
cut the wood; some transport it. The wealthy convey it on trucks drawn
by fine horses which, however, are cruelly overworked. The poor harness
themselves six or eight in a team, men, women, and boys together, and
so, under the burning summer sun, drag loads that look as if they might
be too much for an elephant....
To ascend the Campanile and get the near view over the village, was
obviously one of the first duties of a visitor; so, finding the door
open and the old bellringer inside, we mounted laboriously to the
top--nearly a hundred feet higher than the Leaning Tower of Pisa.
Standing here upon the outer gallery above the level of the great
bells, we had the village and valley at our feet. The panorama, tho' it
included little which we had not seen already, was fine all around, and
served to impress the mainland marks upon our memory. The Ampezzo Thal
opened away to north and south, and the twin passes of the Tre Croci and
Tre Sassi intersected it to east and west. When we had fixt in our minds
the fact that Landro and Bruneck lay out to the north, and Perarolo to
the south; that Auronzo was to be found somewhere on the other side of
the Tre Croci; and that to arrive at Caprile it was necessary to go over
the Tre Sassi, we had gained something in the way of definite topography.
The Marmolata and Civetta, as we knew by our maps, were on the side
of Caprile; and the Marmarole on the side of Auronzo. The Pelmo, left
behind yesterday, was peeping even now above the ridge of the Rochetta;
and a group of fantastic rocks, so like the towers and bastions of a
ruined castle that we took them at first sight for the remains of some
medieval stronghold, marked the summit of the Tre Sassi to the west.
"But what mountain is that far away to the south?" we asked, pointing in
the direction of Perarolo.
"Which mountain, Signora?"
"That one yonder, like a cathedral front with two towers."
The old bellringer shaded his eyes with one trembling hand, and peere
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