421 – 2021. 1600 years of history in the second appointment at the Pian del Cansiglio Hangar to celebrate the anniversary of the Republic of Venice after the weekend of the Fair & Festival of the Forests.
The synergy between Veneto Agriculture, Longarone Fiere Dolomiti, the Veneto Regions and FVG, the Province of Belluno brought over 5,000 visitors to the Cansiglio and, after having dedicated the first week to wood, almost following a file rouge that lasted almost two millennia, led to talk about the tragedy of Vaia until the dawn of the birth of what one day will be called “The queen of the sea”: the Republic of Venice. At the cutting of the ribbon by the authorities, the Minister for relations with the Parliament of Incà: “I am tied to these places and tied to the nature that surrounds this territory. They smell of wood, they smell of history. What is our story. They talk to us and tell us. We have a moral duty to listen to these fantastic stories and, in return, we have the duty to preserve them in the face of cataclysms and bad weather. It is a duty for us and for our children. My presence here is to invite everyone to create the synergy that will lead us to defend a heritage not only in Europe but also in the world from hydrogeological disasters ».
The director of Veneto Agricoltura opened the ceremony. “The history of our famous millenary Republic – underlined Nicola Dell’acqua – is inextricably linked to the wood of the Cansiglio. We decided together with our partners to dedicate this weekend to the wood / Venice link. Without our forests, perhaps Venice would never have become a world famous maritime republic. It is precisely for this reason that this event is necessary, to make everyone understand how vital it is to preserve our forests and our wood. I am not referring only to what happened in Vaia but to all the projects that can be carried out to relaunch the whole territory of Pian del Consiglio ».
After Dell’acqua’s initial greetings, the floor was passed to the president of the province of Belluno, Roberto Padrin: “I thank all the partners who made this event possible, which found a second home in Pian del Cansiglio after the Longarone Fair and I thank the president Gian Angelo Bellati who was unable to attend due to an emergency. We are here not to pay homage, or rather, not only to pay homage to one of the secrets of the “Serenissima”, but to make everyone participate in the heritage we possess and which must be defended at all costs. The presence of so many stand workers and artisans here in the Hangar is an indication of how much the topic is heard. The real challenge, however, we will have to face in the coming years with climate change. A challenge that must make us ready because we have the duty to leave this important legacy to future generations ”.
To close the greetings from the authorities, Hon. Roger De Menech. «Wood, our wood. The forests, the woods, in Cansiglio or in Montello are our history, our roots. It seems like a cliché but it is not. Our past is the foundation of our future. This is why we have a duty to defend this heritage. Because from the millenary history of these forests, we can also learn for the future how to face the problems and challenges that the coming years will put us in front of. These woods are not only witnesses of a glorious past but they must and we have the obligation that they do so, to pass on our tradition for several millennia “. After the greetings from the authorities, the first workshop began in which the importance of the woods for Venice and the Arsenale and the legacy that the importance of wood left to subsequent generations was discussed.
The event was also greeted by the presence of the President of the Veneto Regional Council Roberto Ciambetti who thanked for the invitation and underlined the commitment of the Region in the protection of the forest heritage and the importance of the experience made with the Republic of Venice with the study of wood and then leave space for the afternoon workshop where we talked about “Venice as the power of wood” with the preview presentation of the two-volume book “The Queen of the Seas – Venice and the Maritime Republics” with the author Gian Nicola Pittalis, to then get to discuss the forests of the “Serenissima”.
To close the day at 16.30, moving to Malga Mariech – Vadobbiane, the ceremony for the 50th anniversary of the 1st reforestation camp and the birth of the Wigwam Network in Veneto. Finally, tomorrow everyone returns, from 9 to 18, in Cansiglio at the ex-Hangar area of Veneto Agricoltura with the VENEZIA 1600 event and the sustainable management of the “Bosco da Reme”.
