In San Lorenzo Dorsino there is a road that more than any other tells our farming story. It is the Sled Road, a path that seems to speak.
Walking along it is like stepping into a tale made of hard work, ingenuity and wonder: the story of high-altitude haymaking in Prada. Once, at three in the morning, families would set out on foot to reach the high meadows of Prada. The climb was long and tiring, but you had to arrive before dawn, when the grass, wet with dew, was more yielding to the scythe. All around, the mountains opened onto magnificent views of Lake Molveno and the Soran mountains: a beauty that today enchants hikers, but back then was only the silent backdrop for those who worked to live.
The Sled Road was travelled by sleds loaded with hay that came down towards the valley. Two parallel grooves, still visible in the cobblestones, tell of countless passages of men and women who, with strength and patience, dragged the fruit of their labour. Five kilometres of stone and six hundred and fifty metres of elevation gain, built together, stone by stone, in a long and patient work of the community.
On summer nights, the silence of the woods filled with the metallic sound of boot nails and the roar of sleds speeding down into the valley. For young people it was a test of courage: whoever came down faster earned respect and admiration, perhaps even a touch of legend. Speed was an unappealable judgement, able to distinguish the brave from the cautious, the reckless from the timid.
Those sleds, sturdy and light, were small masterpieces of artisan ingenuity. Made from beech, ash, birch and cornel wood, they weighed only fifteen kilos yet could carry up to five quintals of load. Every element had its own precise function, the result of ancient knowledge, passed from hand to hand.
Today the mountain of Prada has changed. The meadows have become pastures for flocks of sheep, and technology has taken the place of the strength of arms. But the old sleds have not disappeared: they live on in the memory and affection of the people of San Lorenzo Dorsino, cared for with gratitude. Some can still be seen in house gardens, filled with geraniums and the scents of summer, reminding us who we are, where we come from, and how much life has passed along that road.
The photographs are kindly provided by the Photographic Archives of the Municipality of San Lorenzo Dorsino.
