Stories of Alpini and of Salce
More than sixty years of the Alpini Group of Salce and, behind them, the much longer story of a village community, told through its photographs, places, documents and people.
The pages of the Col Maòr newsletter, the photo archives, the 60th Anniversary Book and the recollections of those who lived through it all: MEMORIA brings them together and lets them speak to one another.
Ways in
History of the Group
From the founding on 19 March 1963 to the inauguration on 25 October 1964, and on to the sixtieth anniversary. The full history is in preparation: meanwhile, start with the Alpini Group page.
The Alpini Group →
People
The people who made the Group and its newsletter: the secretary who invented the Col Maòr, the elder always there when there was work to do, the standard-bearer of the Befana’s cart. Faces and lives, side by side.
Meet the people →
Stories
Stories built on documents, each with its sources: a pennant that waited a year, the general who gives the Group its name, the Alpine Befana, a railway bridge crossed by two wars.
Read the stories →
Places of Salce
The village, its hamlets and the War Memorial: the places where the history of the community and its Group can still be read today.
Explore the places →
Our Alpine Barracks
The barracks of the Belluno Alpini, told through the pages of the Col Maòr and the articles of the Group’s members.
Discover the barracks →
Col Maòr
The Group’s newsletter, from 1 April 1964 to today. “It comes out when it can”, wrote its founder: for more than sixty years it has told the story of Salce and its Alpini.
Browse the Col Maòr →
Photo archive
The Group’s photographs, year by year: celebrations, Adunate, work and faces that MEMORIA picks up and tells.
Open the archive →
Friends of the Alpini
Not everyone wears our hat, but without them the Group’s story would be poorer: Don Gioacchino Belli, Beppe Giaccone, Don Bruno Fasani, Father Giorgio De Luca and other friends.
The board today
Group leader Stefano Brancher and the board members who keep the Group going today: who they are and what they do.
And to find your way through the years, the confirmed dates are in the Timeline below.
Featured
The memorial that ended up in Parliament
In 1967 Salce inaugurated its War Memorial bearing the names of all the fallen, “without any exception”. A few weeks later a parliamentary question called for its removal. Read the story of the memorial (in Italian).
The MEMORIA stories
- A year of mourning, then the pennant
- General Pietro Zaglio
- “It comes out when it can”: sixty years of the Col Maòr
- 30 September 1973: the tenth-anniversary celebration
- The Alpine Befana of Salce
- San Fermo and the Val di Siva bridge
- Three men on horseback
People of MEMORIA
Mario Dell’Eva, “Dem”
Secretary of the Group from the day it was founded, in 1963. On 1 April 1964 he conceived, wrote and mimeographed the first Col Maòr, and went on to run it for 234 issues, until 2002 (page in Italian). All the people.
Read his story →One photograph, one story
Beppe Giaccone and Ezio Caldart, 2007
At the annual meeting of 25 November 2007, an alpino from San Damiano d’Asti who had stayed close to Salce stands beside Ezio Caldart, then our Group leader, a book in hand. The story behind the photograph (in Italian).
Explore the places
We begin with the War Memorial (in Italian); more places are in preparation. Meanwhile you can read the page about Salce. All the places.
From the Col Maòr
“Esce quando può; non è un numero unico, ma ogni numero è unico.” — It comes out when it can; it is not a one-off issue, but every issue is unique.
Col Maòr no. 1, April 1964
Since 1964 the Group newsletter has told the story of Salce and its Alpini: it is the main source for MEMORIA. Browse the Col Maòr archive.
Timeline
| 19 March 1963 | The Alpini Group of Salce is founded. |
| 1 April 1964 | The first issue of the Col Maòr comes out. |
| 25 October 1964 | Official inauguration of the Group and of its pennant (gagliardetto), postponed by a year in mourning for the Vajont disaster. |
| 2 April 1967 | Inauguration of the Salce War Memorial. |
| 2004 | The Col Maòr starts again, with Group leader Ezio Caldart and editor Roberto De Nart. |
| 2024 | The Group celebrates its sixtieth anniversary. |
Help us remember
Do you have a photograph, a name, a date or a memory that could complete these stories? Write to us. We read and check every contribution, and whatever is confirmed goes into the archive.
