The water that runs through Tarvisio does not go to the Adriatic: it goes to the Danube, and ends in the Black Sea. The town lies beyond the main Alpine watershed, which here crosses the saddle of Camporosso, and the river Slizza — Gailitz in German, Ziljica in Slovene — flows down to join the Gail at Arnoldstein, in Austria. It is the first sign of something felt everywhere here: Tarvisio is a piece of Italy that lies on the other side of the mountain. On Monte Forno there is the triple frontier between Italy, Austria and Slovenia, and this is one of the four Italian comuni bordering two foreign states, along with Courmayeur, Malles Venosta and Curon Venosta. Four languages are spoken in the town — Italian, German, Slovene and Friulian — and together with neighbouring Malborghetto-Valbruna it is one of the very few quadrilingual comuni in Europe.
Until 1919 the population was for the most part German and Slovene, because the Canal Valley belonged to all intents and purposes to the bilingual area of southern Carinthia. Tarvisio was, after all, for centuries a possession of the chapter of Bamberg, that is, a southern enclave of a German prince-bishopric: it was the bishop of Bamberg who, in 1456, granted it the privilege of holding an annual fair, and that fair is still held. From the fifteenth century the iron industry flourished here, and in that same century, in 1478 and 1492, the town was sacked by the Turks. Then came the Napoleonic wars, with battles here and at Malborghetto in 1797, in 1809 and in 1813. The real change, though, belongs to the twentieth century: from the nineteen twenties migrants arrived from Friuli and from the rest of Italy, and in 1939 the Options put the people of the Canal Valley before a choice. Many — not only German speakers but Slovene speakers too — opted for German citizenship and left for Carinthia; and unlike what happened in Alto Adige, at the end of the war very few came back. Above the town stands the sanctuary of Monte Lussari, where for centuries pilgrims of the three languages climbed together.
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📅 Every year, on 29 June; 5 December brings Saint Nicholas with the Krampus
Tarvisio celebrates Saints Peter and Paul on 29 June, in the church dedicated to them. On 5 December, in all the hamlets, Saint Nicholas arrives accompanied by the Krampus, a tradition reflecting the influence of nearby Carinthia.
Straight-line distances from the town centre. Tap a point to open its page.
The closest destinations covered by our editors, with straight-line distance.
Outside Tarvisio, but an easy day trip away.
