Not everyone wears our Group’s hat. And yet, without them, the story of the Salce Alpini would be poorer: a parish priest, a journalist, a friar, an Alpino from far away, a friend from Tuscany, a man who stood behind the village football team. These are the friends of the Alpini.
Don Gioacchino Belli (1921–1990)
He arrived in Salce on 2 February 1950 and stayed as parish priest for forty years. In 1964 he blessed the pennant of the newborn Group, wrote «La Parrocchia di Salce» with Mario Dell’Eva, and today gives his name to the «4 Stelle don Gioacchino Belli» association, which shares its home with the Alpini in via del Boscon.
Egidio Piacentini
Officer on the Tofane and at the Bainsizza, pharmacist in Malcesine, a friend of Salce to the end: his farewell letter held a cheque for the Group.
Giuseppe «Beppe» Giaccone
He did his military service in Belluno in 1964 and never really left Salce: he brought his greetings to the Group’s annual meetings in 2004 and 2007, when group leader Ezio Caldart thanked him in front of everyone. He is the altar boy at the Mass among the ruins of Longarone, the photograph from which this project was born.
Don Bruno Fasani
The friendship began at the 50th anniversary celebrations in June 2014. On 7 March 2015 the editor of «L’Alpino» came to dinner with us at the 4 Stelle, together with his former fellow soldier Rinaldo Bortot, and went home with an Alpine hat carved in wood by Beppino Lorenzet. On 26 October 2024, at the Teatro Buzzati, he launched the book for our 60th anniversary.
Father Giorgio De Luca
Mario’s brother welcomed the Group to the friary in Bassano during the 2008 National Gathering, and in 2021 it was he who said farewell to Mario at his funeral. On 28 September 2025, in the church of Mussoi, he celebrated fifty years of priesthood, with a delegation of the Salce Alpini among the pews.
Luciano Dal Pont
For decades his name has travelled with the village football team: founded in 1965 as U.S. Moto Ducati Salce, it became U.S. Salce-Renault, the side that won the Longarone Trophy in 1970. In 2024 his company was among the supporters of the book for the Group’s 60th anniversary.
Fabio Pucci
A Tuscan, a friend of Ivano Fant and a guest at the Group’s dinners, in March 2015 he gave the Col Maòr a poem, «Sentinella 15/18»: the lookout on the summit, the cold, the relief that never comes, eyes fixed on the bottom of the mess tin. The dedication read: «To my friends of the Salce group, with affection».
Vittore Celato
His name appears among the «anime bone», the kind souls who supported our newsletter with a donation in 2015, and in 2024 friends from the Group gathered round the table for his birthday. His story with the Salce Alpini is still waiting to be written.
Do you know a friend of the Salce Alpini who is missing here?
A parish priest, a doctor, a teacher, an Alpino from another Group who became one of us: if you have a photograph, a letter or a memory, write to us. Every piece of information is checked before it is added.
Read also about the Salce Alpini Group.
