Walker - 1967 - A geography of Italy

THE ALPS
way to the plain mainly through the S. Croce gap to deposit a sizeable moraine
at Vittorio Veneto. The basin itself is floored with drift across which flow the
braided channels o f the Piave.
In the economy o f Italy as a whole the eastern Alps are mainly important for
their timber, hydro-electric power and tourism. The area is easily Italy’s most
important source o f softwood timber (mainly red fir, white fir and larch); about
50% of the provinces of Bolzano, Trento and Belluno are classed as forested and
planting is being widely extended. The hydro-electric resources have been
thoroughly exploited and the area is now responsible for about one-third o f the
country’s output from that source. Among the larger schemes are the Resia dam,
the S. Giustina dam (R. Noce), the Cardano sull’ Isarco dam, the Fedaia dam
(just north o f Marmolada), the Bards dam (R. Cellina), and the ill-fated Voiont
dam.
The variety o f scenery and climate the eastern Alps can offer is probably
unique in Europe, and there can be few places better equipped to transport,
accommodate and divert the tourist. Cortina alone has over sixty hotels, four
cable railways and seven chairlifts. T he penetration o f the area by an excellent
network o f roads, most o f them built originally for military purposes, and its
accessibihty from the plain and from central Europe are invaluable assets. The
main axis o f communication is o f course the Adige trench leading up to the
Brenner (1375m), a pass rarely closed by snow and much easier o f access since
the construction o f the Europa Brücke beyond the Austrian frontier. On this axis,
along which a motorway will soon be added to the existing road and railway, the
main foci are Bolzano and Trento. The latter attracts routes from Belluno and
Venice along the Val Sugana, from Verona and Bologna along the Adige trench,
and from Brescia both along the Valli Giudicarie and along the shores o f Garda.
The other north-south axis carrying both road and railway follows the Piave to
Cortina and so to the junction o f Dobbiaco; once known as the German road,
this route was much favoured by the Venetians in their trade with south Germany
and the Danube basin. Although much of the labour force comes from
other parts o f Italy, as does much o f the capital invested, tourism is, directly or
indirectly, the mainstay o f the area’s economy.
Agriculture in the eastern Alps falls broadly into two categories, that o f the
lower valleys (especially the Adige trench, the lower Sarca, and the Belluno
basin) and that o f the higher valleys and plateaus. In general the first type has the
advantage of alluvial soils, a long warm growing season with mild winters, and
water for irrigation in summer. A great variety o f crops is grown including
maize, fodder and vegetables, but in the Adige valley from Trento to Merano and
in the lower Sarca valley fruit, especially stone fruits, apples, pears and vines,
assume a particular importance. Viticulture, relying traditionally on the German
market, monopolizes the flat valley floor on either side of Mezzacorona (p. iiia).
The cultivation o f the olive and the lemon on the shores o f Garda is o f more
interest climatically than commercially.
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