ORIGINS OF SPORT IN COMELICO
Comelico
is surrounded by high mountains and has always faced long snowy winters. Its
people had to struggle cultivating slopes to get the minimum necessary to feed
all the mouths. Only a few hunters had to chase the chamoises on the high ledges
to enrich the poor table with some meat. Naturally they admired the panoramas
but would have happily done without all those efforts.
They were the local experts who accompanied and guided the first alpinists who
arrived in Comelico from abroad in the final years of the 19th century. From
hunters to guides - a different and more remunerative job. Our people did not
understand the reason that drove these strangers to come from such distant
places and uselessly spend money and energy to reach the top of hostile and
impervious mountains. Giuseppe Stanislao Pelizzaroli (Bepi Slao), hunter from S.
Stefano, born in 1860, was the pioneer of the guides and alpinists of the valley.
On the front of the 1915-18 war, one of the local people -considered mad rather
than reckless -found himself wearing skis and attending alpine skiing courses
which entailed more climbing than going downhill. With the advent of Fascism,
the Town Council lent the skis to the high achievers in order to increase
strength and boldness in young people. Thus the carefree alpinists were soon
followed by other people who flung themselves down steep slopes risking breaking
their necks or crossed the lawns quickly wearing those “strange things” on
their feet. Decent people whispered and were indignant about this, while the
young and the children run to see the strange afternoon performances of the
skiers who often had spent the morning loading the sledge (lioda) to take down
wood and hay from high woods and lawns.
The same soldiers skiing in winter were busy attending alpine walking and
running competitions in summer. Towards the end of the '30s the first alpine
skiing and walking competitions took place in S. Stefano and Padola. At the same
time our first students came back from boarding schools of the nearby towns for
summer holidays and started playing football on the hidden lawns in order not to
annoy the owners of the land. In the small squares of the villages they used to
play with a small ball called balè, which often ended up breaking the first
light bulbs and windows. The children could have the
balè confiscated, be fined by the municipal guards and finally undergo corporal
punishment by the parents.
In the 50s skiing and alpinism became more and more respected and popular. In
1968 the first unexpected Olympic bobsleigh gold medal was won by an athlete
from Comelico and this was followed by numerous others that in the 90s took our
athletes to the height of the world cross-country skiing.
A motorcycling champion from Padola - not very known in the valley -
unexpectedly opened the motorcyclist era of the sport in Comelico.
In the following pages, we will attempt to describe in more detail all the
heroes in sports from the origins to our day.