San Cassiano: Ursus ladinicus

During the shuttle bus ride in Colfosco, we decided to collect the car from the chalet’s garage and go check out the “art trail” — a footpath with sculptures along the way — in nearby La Villa.

Manuela had marked up a map for us, but when we arrived in La Villa, we could not find the trailhead. That turned out to be a good thing as we continued our drive and ended up in San Cassiano.

Spotting the ‘postcard-pretty’ church in the village center, we decided to check it out … maybe even have lunch in the village square. Our decision to do so was clinched when we saw that a museum that had piqued our curiosity earlier during our trip was here as well.

Where to park was the question, however. The road to the parking structure was closed due to construction. When the GPS took us back to the roundabout to turn us around, we spotted another sign for the parking structure.

The car parked, we walked to the village square … where we noticed the church door was open. Fearing it might close for siesta, we headed there first.

With its white-washed walls trimmed in green, and its characteristic onion-domed bell tower, the Parish Church of San Cassiano is quite charming. The presence of a church here is apparently first mentioned in documents from the 15th century. The current building is a re-build from 1782. Two women were cleaning inside. Though they welcomed us, I didn’t want to be underfoot. A few quick snapshots and we were back outside.

Lunch was at La Vedla, a ristorante/pizzeria overlooking the main drag … and a few quick steps from the church. Our timing was perfect. We had just moved from a rather uncomfortable bistro table to a regular table when the place filled up. In fact, we soon found ourselves sharing our four top with another couple.

We ordered the Montana Pizza — with speck, mushrooms, and the local grey cheese; and a Caesar salad. Both were very good. Hoping to get some gelato from a shop we had spied in the pedestrian area near the museum, we skipped dessert. No gelato, alas … the place was closed. Oh well.

The Museum Ladin Ursus ladinicus tells the fascinating story of a cave bear by the same name. Paying the senior admission of €4.50pp, we received audio guides that essentially summarized in English the exhibit signage and provided the audio for the video screens around the museum.

It was in the fall of 1987 that Willy Costamoling, a man from Corvara, went mountain climbing and made an extraordinary discovery … at about 9,186 feet (2,800m) asl … just below the Conturines Peak. Inside a cave there he found a countless number of bones belonging to a heretofore unknown subspecies of a cave bear from the interglacial period (~40,000 years ago) … a bear that up to 24,000 years ago lived in Europe … in the area between the Ural Mountains and France.

The museum website explains … “In the following years, a team from the University of Vienna, led by Professor Gernot Rabeder, systematically explored this grotto. The result was remarkable: They had discovered a previously unknown species. Named after its discovery location in this Ladin valley, the bear species was christened 'Ursus ladinicus'. Bones of a cave lion were found in the cave as well [no bite marks from the lion were found on the bear bones]. What's more, due to its high altitude, it is probably the highest site worldwide where cave bear and cave lion remains have been discovered. …”

We began our visit on the first floor where we listened to the audio guide detailing the exhibits, including the geological history of the Dolomiti. Here we also found a reconstructed complete skeleton of the cave bear.

Then we walked down the stairs to the basement where there is a replica of the Conturines Cave with the reproduction of a cave bear sleeping with its cub. A short documentary video about the studies conducted by the scientists wrapped up our time at the museum.

I’m glad we happened on the museum today. It was quite fascinating.Read more