Ospitale di Cadore

Ospitale di Cadore is situated in the center of Cadore. Rising on the right of the Piave River, it is a junction town for those travelling to the other, more famous tourist resorts of this area. If you happen to have time, consider a stop here before reaching your next destination, because Ospitale has a few interesting attractions on its own: the old hospice, the metallurgical site of Paluc, the fort of Termine, and the ancient Roman road. The territory offers also some nice, family-friendly trails, and the nature reserve of Val Tovanella is certainly worth a visit.

Ospitale takes its name from the hospice of the XVI century that in the past welcomed pilgrims and travelers. On its frontage you can admire a Gothic mullioned window. Close to Davestra, an administrative division of the municipality, you find the archaeological site of Paluc: a metallurgical village dating back to 1,000 AD with ruins of houses, furnaces, shops, and dross produced from metal manufacturing. The finds, now kept in the primary school of Ospitale di Cadore, indicate that this was probably the most important metallurgical site of the whole Cadore.
Ospitale has always been a conjunction town between north and south, and the old Roman road once run along the Canale del Piave. In Termine you can admire the remains of an old fort, now swallowed up by other buildings. You could take some time to visit also the parish church dating back to 1290, the beautiful fountain, the wash house in the center of the village, and the church of Maria Maddalena, dating back to 1500.

If you like easy walks, Ospitale di Cadore features some family-friendly trails, like the loop trail starting and ending in Ospitale, or the one starting and ending in Davestra. The first takes about two hours and runs along the old road of the Canale del Piave; the second, called also Via dei Pagani, takes about two hours and a half and leads to the archaeological site of Paluc.
The territory of Ospitale di Cadore is included in the nature reserve of Val Tovanella, enclosed between the Bosconero Group and the Sasso di Toanella. The reserve hosts a thick, lush forest and many animal species. Above the tree line you can admire the imposing rock faces, interspersed with scree. During the Serenissima Republic of Venice in many worked in this area, and you can still see the trails they created to cross the mountains. For many centuries in fact Ospitale provided the timber for the Serenissima.

Nowadays Ospitale developed a metallurgical industry and a biomass plant.

Not far from Ospitale, surrounded by a lush forest, you find I Ronci, and area equipped with WC and showers, perfect for boy scout camping.