The Misurina plain, at around 1780 metres above sea level, is a watershed area that separates the valley of the Ansiei torrent - an affluent of the Piave that comes from Misurina lake – from the valley of the Rienza, which flows down towards the area bordering on the South Tyrol. The striking building that sits on the south bank of Misurina lake was once one of the classiest, most elegant hotels in the Alps, frequented by a prestigious international clientele. The veranda that looks out onto the lake, which used to have a broad stairway, has undergone a number of changes, and was recently replaced by a low masonry structure that juts outwards, part of which features large windows. Inside there were a large number of bedrooms and reception rooms featuring mural paintings. An electrical power plant used the water from Misurina lake to provide the energy required for the indoor and outdoor lighting and services of the hotel, while the running water on all floors was channelled in directly from a spring two kilometres away. In July 1900, following the assassination of her husband Umberto I, Queen Margherita stayed for a month in the hotel, on her second visit to Misurina, where she had already spent the day in 1881, during her first holiday in the Cadore area, in Perarolo. The queen was able to witness the completion of the work on the little church of the Madonna della Salute, built in a dominant position close to the hotel; on the other side of the road were the post office, a tobacconist's and the stables. Following the monarch’s visit the hotel’s name was changed to Grande Albergo Savoia (as testified to by headed notepaper from 1935, which reads “Grand Hotel & Savoia”), and many illustrious guests signed their names on the guestbook thereafter, such as Umberto di Savoia in 1926, Italo Balbo and Guglielmo Marconi in 1932, and the Futurist painter Marinetti in 1935. After the Great War the hotel was rebuilt and rechristened “Grand Hotel delle Alpi e Misurina”, remaining an accommodation facility until 1940. In 1950 it was purchased by the Società Charitas religious organisation, and in 1970 it became a holiday centre for needy children, before being used as a preventorium for young people with lung disease from the Diocese of Parma. It remains to this day the only facility of its kind in Italy.

The Misurina plain can be reached from Auronzo di Cadore through the Val d’Ansiei on the SR48 - SP49, passing through San Marco, or from Dobbiaco through the Val di Landro, along the SS51 Alemagna road, or from Cortina d’Ampezzo across the Tre Croci Pass, km 2.5 of the SR48.

ACCESSIBLE: upon request
MUNICIPALITY: Auronzo di Cadore
PLACE: Misurina
GEOGRAPHICAL COORDINATES: X 1749236 – Y 5163439
PROVINCE: Belluno

FILE COMPILED BY: Lonzi

Mid-way between Auronzo and Misurina, on the right bank of the Ansiei torrent, is the Somadida State Forest (101 NS), declared an Oriented Nature Reserve in 1972. It is one of the most beautiful and best-protected forests in the Cadore, where the accumulation of water is intensified by the depressions that form humid zones; this explains the name of the place, “Palus San Marco” (from palude, Italian for marsh).
On the road that runs up to the Tre Cime is the Antorno Lake (1866 m), of particular interest to naturalists on account of the aquatic plant communities present, while near the saddle of the pass, on the 48 bis road, beyond Col S. Angelo, there is an area rich in water, where we find a number of interesting place names, such as “Ponte del Paludetto” and “Fontana di Caldiera”. This is a large marshy basin, a low and intermediate peat bog biotope that has been partially reduced and modified by drainage attempts and pastureland. 

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