Tarvisio

Where to stay in Tarvisio

The town stands at 754 metres in the Canal Valley, which separates the Carnic Alps and the Karawanks to the north from the Julian Alps to the south. Nearby rises Monte Forno, the Peak of the Three Borders, where Italy, Austria and Slovenia meet at a single point: a position that has made this valley a crossroads of Latin, Germanic and Slavic languages and cultures, recognisable in the double place names and in the cooking.

Monte Lussari

At 1,789 metres, above Camporosso, a small village of timber houses clusters around the Marian sanctuary known as that of the Three Peoples, a pilgrimage destination for centuries for Friulians, Carinthians and Slovenes. It is reached by gondola or on foot along the Pilgrim’s Path. From the summit the whole Tarvisio basin lies below, and in winter the Di Prampero piste starts here, four kilometres and a thousand metres of vertical down to the valley floor.

Lakes and forests

The two Fusine lakes, of glacial origin, lie in a limestone amphitheatre below Monte Mangart and are protected by a nature park established in 1971; they freeze in winter, and that basin often records Italy’s lowest temperatures. Around them stretches the Tarvisio forest, among the largest in the country, while the Slizza gorge is a ravine cut by the stream, walkable on boardwalks in a circuit of about an hour.

Skiing and cycling

The ski area combines the Lussari pistes with one of the region’s most extensive networks of cross-country loops, including the arena named after Gabriella Paruzzi, the Olympic champion born here. In summer the Alpe Adria Cycle Path passes through Tarvisio: four hundred kilometres in all, linking Salzburg to the Adriatic by way of Udine and Grado. For more see where to stay in Tarvisio; a regional overview is in where to stay in Friuli-Venezia Giulia.