rocksas

foto di Doriano Brunel

I'm made of rock and I'm not moving

Among all of the stories to tell about the Fassa Valley, that of the origin of the mountains may well be the most beautiful. Almost a fairy tale. But how does one go about telling 280 million years of history in a little less than one page?

Once upon a time, there was an exquisitely beautiful sea. On the seabed were various corals and fossilized algae. Corals are not rock, but rather tiny living organisms that grow on top of each other, always underwater but just below the surface because they need light to grow, just like all living things on earth.

Then there were movements of land and water, violent and imposing. It was at that point that the mountains rose up which had been below the water: the Rosengarten/Catinac- cio, the Sella, the Langkofel/Sassolungo, the Marmolada, the Monzoni, the Latemar. Each one would have a story to tell, their orogeny is incredibly rich, among the most interesting in the world. The story is well known by mineral enthusiasts who frequent the Monzoni chain, a true gem for connoisseurs.

Millennium after millennium, stratification after stratification. Those with a good eye and a little knowledge of geology can recognize the life of the rocks, similar to how the rings in a tree trunk are read. It's just that in contrast to trees, the rock also has some names to de- fine its age: Richtofen Conglomerate, Contrin Limestone, Schlern (Sciliar) Dolomite.

The orographic left of the Fassa Valley is composed of volcanic rock. It is the lava of extremely ancient volcanoes which, under that enchanting sea, had a party with fireworks every night. The lava covered that part of the valley, leaving evidence here and there of Dolomitic rock. The spurs in S. Nicolò Valley that are called Maerins seem to be incredibly proud of having managed to poke through the lava so as to not be submerged forever.

The rock of the Marmolada is not Dolomitic rock: it has less coral and a loto more fossilized algae.

At a certain point in history, the valley was covered by an enormous glacier that was one and a half kilometers high (nearly a mile). The water that ran off defined the valleys of today. Slowly, the glacier melted (if "slowly" can be defined as over the course of millennia). Today, it is up to the cold, the heat, the snow, and the rain to model the Fassa Valley that we now see. The rocks have always had an important sig- nificance for the mountain people. And even more for those of the Fassa Valley, as the legends recount that we were thinking of having been born of the rock and even having been made of rock.

A bond that does not just dissolve like that, in an instant or over millennia, even if few words remain about that bond.

There are those of Conturina when they say:

son de sas e no me meve/
I'm made of rock and I'm not moving

son de crepa enmarmolèda/ I'm made of marbleized rock

son na fia arbondonèda/ I'm an abandoned daughter

no capesce la rejon.../
I don't understand the reason why

What else would they have wanted to tell us?

foto di Doriano Brunel

Son de sas e no me meve...

Anter la stories de Fascia, chela de noscia crepes l'é fosc la più bela. Na contìa da marevea. Ma co se fèjel a contèr doicenteotantamilions de egn de storia te mesa na piata?

Saon de n gran bel mèr. Junfon alghes fossilisèdes e corèi. I corèi no l'é pa sasc, ma pìcoi organismes che se poja un sora l'auter, semper vejins a l'èga, che i chier l'aria ence se i resta sot ite. Chisc pìcoi corèi à de besegn de lum per crescer, desche dut chel che vif su la tera. La alghes fossilisèdes enveze l'é pian- tes che oramai é deventèdes sas.

Dapò l'é ruà i tempes de gregn soscedaments, èghes che se arbassèa e uzèa, e coscita, zacan ciuta fora l Ciadenac, l Sela e l Saslench, la Marmolèda, i Munciogn, l Latemar. Canche chisc i é rué fora i aea ence sia bela storia da contèr. L'é chi che va a sasc e minerèi che i la cognosc e per chisc apascioné i Munciogn l'é l post più bel del mond.

Milené do milené, stratificazion su stratificazion. Se se à bon eie e mingol de saer se pel cognoscer la vita del crep, medemo che a vardèr i anìe de n fust. Demò che a despet de l'èlber, la crepa à per ogne sola n inom: conglomerà de Richtofen, calcar de Contrin, dolomia del Sciliar, e c.i. Na richeza de vita, chela de noscia crepes, che tel mond n'é peces. La pèrt de Fascia, chela a cencia a jir dò la Veisc, la é de pera scura. L'é la lava de vulcans veiores che fajea festa sot chel gran mèr. La lava à corì la crepes spavides. I Maerins ite per Sèn Nicolò i moscia amò inchecondì duta sia stolzarìa per esser stac bogn de sciampèr da la lava foscia.
La crepa de la Marmolèda l'é amò zeche da auter. Chel crep l'é fat de corèi ma soraldut de piantes fossilisèdes. A jir a pé, da Contrin sù, se veit bel olache fenesc la tera foscia de lava e scomenza l sas calcar de noscia Reìna.

Da zeche ora na gran giacia auta beleche n chilo- meter e mez se à pojà soravìa duta noscia crepes. La èghes che se mef sot ite dessegna la valèdes. Pian pian (se se pel dir pian pian l jir di milenees) la giacia se à delegà e dò à lurà l temp: ciaut e tebech, freit e gonfet, èga e sdrèvia, neif e vent, i ge dajarà forma a la val che vedon inchecondì.

La crepes à semper abù n gran segnificat per la jent che vif sa mont. Per la jent de noscia val fosc amò de più, tant da pissèr de esser adertura nasciui fora da n crep e esser fac de sas.

N leam che no se deslea te n medeat e nience te n milené, ence se de paroles en resta peces.

Cheles de Conturina canche la dijea:

son de sas e no me meve,

son de crepa enmarmolèda, son na fia arbandonèda
e no capesce la rejon.

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