Summer

Some people face it going uphill and soon realize that it was actually made to go down. Because you feel tired just by looking at it. It's a 4444-step gray limestone stairway, on whose side is a hollow that was used to send down to the river Brenta the logs to build Venice's ships, the Serenissima. It is a masterpiece of rock carving for human traffic use, nestled in a wild environment. The Calà del Sasso is the hardest and most secret gateway to the Plateau.

This easy route starts from Praciadelàn, just above the village of Calalzo di Cadore, and follows the CAI path no. 255 (which is accessible for off-road vehicles in summer). The route goes up the long scree slope of Val d'Oten, a long valley that separates the Marmarole mountain chain from the imposing Antelao massif, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

At the foot of the Marmolada mountain, in the small hamlet of Santa Maria delle Grazie in the Rocca Pietore area, there is a Marian shrine originally dating back to 1693 which is run today by the Friars Minor. The current building was erected since 1947 and was officially consecrated in 1965. The shrine has reached such a level of fame over the years that today it can be considered as the most popular destination for Marian devotion in the Dolomite valleys.

Follina, a small town at the foot of the Trevis-Belluno Prealps, is a focal point of the religious tourism circuit that leads to the discovery of places rich in spirituality and devotion and of great artistic value.

Here you will find one of the most beautiful holy buildings in Veneto: the Abbey of Santa Maria.

Suspended between the ground and the sky, clinging to the rocky wall of Mount Baldo, the charming Sanctuary of Our Lady of the Crown is a sacred site made beautiful by both its spiritual character and the originality of the surrounding landscape. The Sanctuary, belonging to the Diocese of Verona, is in Spiazzi, a hamlet of Ferrara di Monte Baldo.

The history of the Great Rogation, the 33 km long procession through the Asiago Plateau that takes place every year on the Saturday before Ascension Day, has very deep roots.

It started as a well wishing walk for the harvest, but in 1600, after the great plague, it became a trail of thanks for the survivors, and the people of the Plateau have been doing it since then with great fervor.

The route of the Great Rogation - which can be walked all year round - goes around seven towns.

Intended to renew the fame and splendour of the Venetian towns which have marked many of the papacies of the 20th century, the Popes’ road leads visitors through silent walks and meditations in the woods of Cadore and the Venetian plain, discovering the places of birth or retreat of several Popes who had special connections to the Veneto region.

The road is constituted of two paths which leave from the mountain areas of Cadore and Agordino to join up at Belluno. From here, the Popes’ road continues across the province of Treviso and arrives to Venice.

In the first half of the sixteen century the town of Bovolone (in the province of Verona) became an important pilgrimage destination as a result of the strong popular devotion to a marble statue of the Madonna and Jesus child on a throne (both wearing a belted tunic thus giving this name to the Shrine). 

According to historical chronicles, there were so many votes, offerings and votive panels donated to the Virgin that it was decided to build a church, completed in 1650 and known from then on as the Shrine of the Madonna of the Belt.

In the Padua area Christianity and the enormous devotion of Paduans is testified to by an invaluable religious architecture.