For our last day in Italy, we drove into the Alps, to the small village of Coi, in the Val di Zoldo near the Monte Civetta ski complex at the edge of the National Park of the Dolomites. Coi lies in Northern Italy, near the borders with Switzerland and Austria.
There is very little written about the history of Coi. The small village only has ~50 summertime residents living in a few historic houses in the village. No one spoke English, so we did the best we could interpreting the history lessons the people of the village were trying to relay to us. This is our BnB, on a hillside overlooking the Alps.
Looking back at the Italian Alps, from a hiking trail above Coi, Italy.
Just down the street from our BnB, a great view of the Dolomites overlooking the village of Coi.
The 'main' street through Coi (actually, the only street through Coi).
The village's church, with the Dolomites in the background.
We hiked into the Alps, and were able to witness many scenic overlooks, with remnants of older structures all around.
A couple of Zamorano burros, a breed that originates in Spain. Frequently seen in movies as pack animals used in older European-set movies, here they were grazing just off the trail at the base of the Dolomites.
More scenic views from Coi.
There was only one restaurant in town, La Caminatha, and it was a winter-season hotel/restaurant catering to skiing, so for our summer trip we were the only visitors to the restaurant that day. After speaking with the owners, they opened the restaurant for us, and they had only one table set in the middle of the restaurant just for the four of us. They lit the fire in the lobby (normally used in the winter to keep the skiers warm). The dishes were unique, and we didn't really know what we were ordering, but ate every last bite.
We got a history lesson of Val di Zoldo (Zoldo Valley) with our meal which we enjoyed greatly, even though we could only decipher a few words of the mostly Italian descriptions. From what we can gather, there is a lot of history in this village and in this restaurant, from both ancient mining and timber activities. Nearby is a clear-cut area where much of the timber used to build gondolas in Venice was harvested (at least that what I think they were saying). Or maybe the origin of the word gondola came from the residents in that clear-cut area, not really sure which. Either way, the village has something to do with the history of the gondola.
View form La Caminatha's back deck.
The only street in Coi centers around a public square with a community well, pouring water from a mountain spring into a trough for the citizens' use.
Nearby hangs the Venetian flags, you can see the unique fringed ends of the flag, reminding one of Venetian blinds.
This Ash tree is several hundred years old, and has special meaning to people of the village, although we weren't able to make out its full story, beyond that it was vandalized sometime in the last 100 years and has the top cut off. The history of why the tree is here goes back to the 1500's, but the full story was unfortunately unclear to us.
Being silly while trying to yodel in the Alps.
Another view of the BnB before we loaded up "Luigi" one last time (Luigi is the name our boys gave the little Fiat we drove around Italy this past week).
View from the BnB.
Chilling in the Alps.
In the lower city of Zoldo Alto, at the bottom of the valley, with portions of the Dolomites in the Italian Alps in the background.
Afterwards we flew back to Germany, and are recovering in Frankfurt before our morning flight back to the States.
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