Erto e Casso is a municipality in the Province of Pordenone

Province of Pordenone

The Province of Pordenone is a province in the autonomous Friuli-Venezia Giulia region of Italy. Its capital is the city of Pordenone. The territory was carved out of the Province of Udine in 1968....

 in the Italian

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

 region Friuli-Venezia Giulia

Friuli-Venezia Giulia

Friuli–Venezia Giulia is one of the twenty regions of Italy, and one of five autonomous regions with special statute. The capital is Trieste. It has an area of 7,858 km² and about 1.2 million inhabitants. A natural opening to the sea for many Central European countries, the region is...

, located about 130 km northwest of Trieste

Trieste

Trieste is a city and seaport in northeastern Italy. It is situated towards the end of a narrow strip of land lying between the Adriatic Sea and Italy's border with Slovenia, which lies almost immediately south and east of the city...

 and about 40 km northwest of Pordenone

Pordenone

Pordenone is a comune of Pordenone province of northeast Italy in the Friuli-Venezia Giulia region.The name comes from the Latin "Portus Naonis" meaning the port on the river Noncello - History :...

.

Geography

The commune is composed by Erto (the municipal seat, population: 341), Casso

Casso

Casso is an Italian village, frazione of Erto e Casso, in the Province of Pordenone. Its population is 35. Together with Erto, its administrative seat, it forms the municipality of Erto-Casso.-Geography:...

(population: 35), and by some little localities: Cavalle, Col della Ruava, Forcai, Liron, Pineda, San Martino and Val del Pont.

Erto e Casso borders the municipalities Castellavazzo

Castellavazzo

Castellavazzo is a comune in the Province of Belluno in the Italian region Veneto, located about 90 km north of Venice and about 20 km northeast of Belluno...

, Cimolais

Cimolais

Cimolais is a comune in the Province of Pordenone in the Italian region Friuli-Venezia Giulia, located about 130 km northwest of Trieste and about 40 km northwest of Pordenone.-External links:*...

, Claut

Claut

Claut is a comune in the Province of Pordenone in the Italian region Friuli-Venezia Giulia, located about 120 km northwest of Trieste and about 35 km northwest of Pordenone...

, Longarone

Longarone

Longarone is a town and comune on the banks of the Piave in the province of Belluno, in North-East Italy. It is situated 35 kilometers from Belluno....

, Ospitale di Cadore

Ospitale di Cadore

Ospitale di Cadore is a comune in the Province of Belluno in the Italian region Veneto, located about 100 km north of Venice and about 25 km northeast of Belluno.-References:...

, Perarolo di Cadore

Perarolo di Cadore

Perarolo di Cadore is a comune in the Province of Belluno in the Italian region Veneto, located about 110 km north of Venice and about 30 km northeast of Belluno.-References:...

, Pieve d'Alpago

Pieve d'Alpago

Pieve d'Alpago is a comune in the Province of Belluno in the Italian region Veneto, located about 80 km north of Venice and about 11 km northeast of Belluno...

 and Soverzene

Soverzene

Soverzene is a comune in the Province of Belluno in the Italian region Veneto, located about 90 km north of Venice and about 10 km northeast of Belluno. As of 31 December 2004, it had a population of 412 and an area of 14.8 km².Soverzene borders the following municipalities: Erto e...

.

Early history

The village of Erto was first mentioned in 8th century. Differently from Casso, in which is spoken bellunese (a Venetian

Venetian language

Venetian or Venetan is a Romance language spoken as a native language by over two million people, mostly in the Veneto region of Italy, where of five million inhabitants almost all can understand it. It is sometimes spoken and often well understood outside Veneto, in Trentino, Friuli, Venezia...

 dialect), the local language is a dialect of Ladin language, colloquailly named ertano.

The Vajont disaster

Erto and Casso were the two villages in the Vajont (/vaˈjɔnt/) valley, above the artificial lake, before the Vajont Dam

Vajont Dam

The Vajont Dam is a disused dam, completed in 1959 in the valley of the Vajont river under Monte Toc, 100 km north of Venice, Italy...

 disaster on October 9, 1963. The landslide and flood

Flood

A flood is an overflow of an expanse of water that submerges land. The EU Floods directive defines a flood as a temporary covering by water of land not normally covered by water...

 killed almost 2,000 people in total, destroying five villages in the Piave valley but leaving Erto and Casso only slightly damaged. The two villages were cautionally evacuated within three days of the disaster and the valley stayed empty for three years thereafter. During those years, some of the survivors settled down in the Maniago

Maniago

Maniago is a town and comune located in the Province of Pordenone, Friuli-Venezia Giulia . It is known principally today for its production of steel blades which are used by the big name producers of knives, scissors, and shears which are exported worldwide.-External links:...

 municipality, creating what would become the new Vajont

Vajont

Vajont is a town and comune in the province of Pordenone, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, north-eastern Italy.-History:The municipality was founded in 1971 on the municipal territory of Maniago. It was built to host the people evacuated from Erto e Casso after the disaster of the Vajont Dam ....

municipality from 1971.

Three years after evacuation, some other survivors, in spite of being forbidden to return to the valley, went back to their former houses and reformed the villages of Erto and Casso, which still form the municipality today.

External links

Erto village website Erto e Casso official website Mountain Community of Western Friuli