Outline of the place:
The Maè Valley was strategically important, both for its Austrian origins near Longarone along the road to Forcella Staulanza, which was approved only in 1906, as well as for the possible outflanking of the Cadore-Maè fortress through the routes of Forcella Ciandolada and Forcella Cibiana. Especially after 1908, important construction of defense works on Maè were started, with emplacements and access for rolling stock to Col Pradamano between Mezzocanale and Ospitale di Zoldo, to Col de Salera, Monte Punta and Col Baion (Colcervèr).

 

As well as artillery positions in barbettes and caves, this system of fortifications had observation posts, shelters and warehouses designed to act in synergy with the installations near Agordo and Cadore, particularly after the completion of the fort at Monte Rite in 1915 and when, during the same conflict, the famous Yellow Line was established, stretching from the Veneto to Friuli and intended as a last line of resistance in case of collapse of the front.

 

The remains of this defensive effort, having shown itself to be (almost) useless in the frenzied days after Caporetto, are now easily accessible via rewarding hikes from towns in the valley. They allow you to discover a lesser-known side of the terrible world war, or rather the side of the war that was prepared for but never really fought, by appreciating the solutions chosen in the light of progress in fortification and siege technology in the early 1900s.



GEOGRAPHICAL LOCATION and AREA BOUNDARY
The area is part of the municipalities of Zoldo Alto and Forno di Zoldo and involves the peaks and slopes of Spiz Zuel, Col de Salera, Monte Punta and Col Baion, but the proposed routes often connect and mesh both geographically and historically with those of the Longarone area (see Col Pradamio), and especially with those of Cadore through Forcella Ciandolada and Forcella Cibiana, as well as those around Agordo through Forcella Moschesin.