From the ANA Belluno Section website
The Alpini Group of Salce, named after General Pietro Zaglio, former commander of the 7th Alpini Regiment, was founded in 1964, at a time when the Belluno community was still deeply shaken by the Vajont tragedy. The first official meeting was held on 19 March 1964.
The public founding ceremony took place on 25 October of the same year, after the year of mourning proclaimed in memory of the victims of that catastrophic event.
In the Group’s first official address, written by Mario Dell’Eva, we already find the principles that have shaped the life of the Alpini Association ever since: remembrance of our history, solidarity with the community, humility and restraint, and above all enthusiasm and a healthy pride in everything we do.
From its very first committee meeting, the Group decided to publish a newsletter. Its purpose was to report on the Group’s activities and, in Mario’s own words, to share local news or events deserving wider attention.
Mario Dell’Eva founded and edited the publication, while Adriano Padrin served as its managing editor for many years. Mario, who signed his pieces “dem”, continued to develop his creation, which also received national recognition at the first Alpini Press Competition in Brescia. He kept it going until December 2002, when it seemed that Col Maòr might officially become the Belluno Section’s newspaper, a role it had effectively performed for several years.
The Section chose a different course, however, and in the final days of his life Mario witnessed the end of Col Maòr. It was a sad period: the Group had lost its historic secretary and the gift he had wanted to leave to the Alpini of Belluno seemed to have disappeared with him.
Sadness and anger eventually led to a positive decision. Ezio Caldart, then Group Leader and Mario’s closest collaborator, brought the title back under the Group’s responsibility and revived Col Maòr. With the help of Roberto De Nart, its managing editor and the only professional journalist on the editorial staff, many valuable collaborations began. Most of them still form the solid foundation of a newsletter produced with passion by councillor Michele Sacchet and a lively, well-prepared editorial team.
The history of the Group is not only the history of Col Maòr. Another important project, undertaken from the very beginning, was the construction of a new war memorial designed by the first Group Leader, Giovanni Dal Pont. At the time, many communities were building monuments to remember their dead.
Salce made a courageous choice: the names of victors and defeated were inscribed together on the same memorial. This began a path of reconciliation that is still not entirely complete. There were political protests and intimidation, but the community succeeded in resisting and overcoming them.
The Group’s life has always been animated by the traditional Alpini spirit. Today’s veterans, the young “bocia” of those years, still remember the national gatherings, community occasions and excursions. The first Alpini Epiphany celebration was held in January 1969 and has remained an annual appointment with local children. Originally intended for members’ children, it gradually became a celebration open to every child in the community.
Through this event the Group began to focus increasingly on childhood and education. Numerous initiatives were organised for the local primary school and nursery school, many of which continue today.
Like all Alpini Groups, we try to respond to the needs and urgent concerns of our community and to put the principle of subsidiarity into practice—a concept the Alpini have always carried in their DNA.
Over the years we have restored fountains and roads, cleaned public areas and repaired local churches. We have organised choral concerts, first-aid courses and photographic exhibitions. A particularly memorable exhibition marked the Group’s 40th anniversary and presented previously unpublished historic photographs, with important curatorial work by Armando Dal Pont.
In 1981 we coordinated the construction of the cemetery chapel together with other associations and community volunteers. More than thirty years later, in 2012, we completely renovated the building, meeting all costs and carrying out the work entirely through the voluntary labour of our members.
Civil Protection
The activity that best represents the Group’s present-day service is Civil Protection. Since the 1976 Friuli earthquake, volunteers from Salce have travelled wherever the Alpini were called to help.
Today the Group has an active team within the Belluno Civil Protection Unit. It is a small but effective body of trained, operational and close-knit volunteers—not merely a list of names on paper. Several members are ready to leave at short notice in an emergency, as demonstrated during the earthquakes in L’Aquila and Emilia.
Looking ahead, we will continue to support education, particularly our nursery school, contribute to voluntary work and, within the limits of our resources, stand alongside local authorities and community initiatives.
Preserving the history of Salce
Our passion for local history, fostered by Col Maòr, led us to recognise the exceptional value of Salce’s parish bulletins. They are among the few sources capable of preserving the small but important stories and the everyday life of our community.
The Salce Parish Bulletin first appeared in 1927. Successive parish priests preserved the printed copies, now collected in seven large volumes kept in the rectory. Consultation is open to everyone, although handling the original volumes is understandably difficult.
The Group therefore decided to digitise the entire collection and make it available online, just as it had already done with Col Maòr. Partly supported by the Veneto Region, the project is our gift to the community and especially to younger generations who wish to discover the history of Salce and of their elders. Read the digitised parish bulletins.
Milestones in the history of the Group
- 1964 – Foundation of the Group; Giovanni Dal Pont elected Group Leader; first issue of Col Maòr.
- 1966 – Construction of the war memorial.
- 1969 – First Alpini Epiphany celebration.
- 1976 – Ezio Caldart elected Group Leader.
- 1981 – The Group helps build the new cemetery chapel.
- 1982 – Decimo Colbertaldo elected Group Leader.
- 1984 – Opening of the new headquarters in Col di Salce.
- 1988 – Ezio Caldart re-elected Group Leader.
- 1989 – 25th anniversary and foundation of the Civil Protection team.
- 2002 – Publication of Col Maòr resumes.
- 2004 – 40th anniversary and historic photographic exhibition.
- 2011 – Cesare Colbertaldo elected Group Leader.
- 2014 – 50th anniversary of the Group.
- 2017 – Cesare Colbertaldo re-elected Group Leader.
- 2020 – Col Maòr wins second place in the National Alpini Press Competition.
- 2021 – Massimo De Vecchi elected Group Leader; he “went ahead” in March 2023.
- 2023 – Stefano Brancher elected Group Leader.
- 2024 – 60th anniversary of the Group.
