Prà Gran

The Marmarole are among the most inaccessible, wild, and least-visited mountains in the Dolomites. Characterized by rugged rocky basins and steep, scree-filled gullies, this mountain range has no alpine huts on the Auronzo side, where high-altitude lodging is provided by isolated historic and modern bivouacs, accessible only on foot after hours of hiking. These conditions make the Marmarole the ideal habitat for ibex and chamois; yet, for the old hunters of Cadore, the still silence of those crags hides ancient secrets.

It is said, in fact, that the Marmarole range was once inhabited by the Croderes: a people similar to humans in appearance, yet incapable of experiencing emotions or feelings. The queen they elected was named Tanna, a beautiful young woman who, however, possessed a human heart. The Croderes soon realized how different Tanna was; she loved what they hated: humans. The queen did everything she could to help them, and the Marmarole—which had always been wild and inaccessible mountains—became peaceful and more accessible to both humans and animals. However, the discord between Tanna and the Croderes grew day by day, so much so that when the queen fell in love with the mortal Count of Aquileia, her people asked her to relinquish the crown and retreat to the icy peaks of the Marmarole.

But not even love could bring Tanna happiness: the Count of Aquileia abandoned her, and Savanel, the son born of their union, left her to go in search of his father. Powerless and loveless, Tanna endured the hardships of human life, until one day her son returned to her. His journey had not led him to find a father’s love, but rather the love of a young woman, Marcora, with whom he had fled to escape the enemies of their union—among whom was her own father. Unfortunately, not even the glaciers of the Marmarole provided a safe haven for Savanel and Marcora, and the young man died in the clashes with their pursuers. Tanna and Marcora, having watched helplessly as he died, kept vigil over his body, waiting for the glacier to melt and return him to them. Overwhelmed by suffering and grief, Marcora died, while Tanna—disillusioned also by the ungrateful men who now regarded her as a witch—returned to her role as queen of the Croderes.

Ever since then, the Marmarole have been a dangerous and wild land where peace reigns only one day a year, when Tanna—to mourn the deaths of Savanel and Marcora—rediscovers the goodness of her woman’s heart, which the men had slowly and inexorably destroyed.