The church of Longarone, dedicated to the Immacolata Concezione, sits almost opposite the Vajont dam and looks towards the Piave. The project was entrusted to the architect Giovanni Michelucci immediately after the disaster, when the mayor of Longarone sent a letter with a request for the construction of a new parish church, since the old one had been destroyed.  The architect came up with a striking idea for the project straight away, but as a result of a long series of reconsiderations and difficulties, it was not until 1975, nine years after the official assignment, that the first stone was laid, and the church was not consecrated until October 9, 1983. The building, in an upside-down truncated cone shape, is composed of a large elliptical, amphitheatre-style covered by what became a square overlooking the surrounding area. Mass is held in the cavea that opens out around the altar to create a large ovel shape. The whole building is a monolith built in reinforced concrete, without infill walls, completed by a flight of stairs through a bridge and a block that forms the roof. The monumental church was completed in 1989 with a bell tower constructed using sheets of copper around a metal frame on a design by Alessandro Redo from Belluno.

From the A27 motorway exit towards Longarone, take left for the Val di Zoldo just after the fork, then right towards the centre of Longarone (Via Roma); the church is clearly visible from the parking area.

ACCESSIBLE: yes
MUNICIPALITY: Longarone
PLACE: Longarone Centro
GEOGRAPHICAL COORDINATES: X 1754350 - Y 5129146
PROVINCE: Belluno

FILE COMPILED BY: Guadagnin

The arch-shaped concrete vault, infamous all over the world for the tragedy it caused, can be found on the Vajont torrent in Friuli, in the area of Erto. The huge mass that on 9 October 1963 crashed into the tank, causing a gigantic wave that swept over the dam and destroyed the villages downstream, killing over 2000 people, did not damage the structure of the dam itself, 22.11 metres thick at the base and 261 metres high. The Great Vajont Dam project was developed from the early 1920s, while work on the construction of the dam (88 IA) began in August 1958.

C. Conforti, R. Dulio, M. Marandola, Giovanni Michelucci 1891-1990, Electa, Milan, 2006
Longarone e la sua chiesa, Tipografia Tiziano, Pieve di Cadore, 2003
Comune di Longarone, Collegio Ingegneri e Architetti, L’urbanistica del dopo Vajont. Atti del convegno, Tipografia Beato Bernardino, Feltre, 1993