"Luckily it snowed." Snow marks the rhythms of winter, determining the economy, daily life. Snow, which is increasingly rare here too. But this time the sky has decided to dress in white the days when the entire Dolomites will be before the eyes of the world thanks to the Olympic Games. Cortina isn't that far away, but in these valleys, you can breathe a different world. "Many people stay here. The prices and the pace are more human. And you can breathe the real mountain air»

Mareson, Val di Zoldo (Belluno)

Elisabetta De Feo, 48, runs the Maè Hotel in Mareson in the Zoldo Valley with her four daughters. Along with Bella, their dog, they form an all-female team. Hers is a family history that dates back to the early twentieth century. But along with it, a clear choice: at a certain point, she took back the hotel, began a major renovation, and introduced her own idea of ​​hospitality. "My great-grandfather, Vito De Feo, was sent to Longarone to do his military service. Here he met Antonietta, fell in love, and when his military service was over, he returned to Puglia, loaded up a cart with wine and specialties, and crossed Italy on foot to return here. He stopped in Longarone and started working. He knew what he was doing, buying land and houses. It was his son, my grandfather, who financed the opening of the Hotel De Feo in Forno di Zoldo. With an attached cinema."

Then his father left and arrived in Mareson. "In this corner of the valley, with Mount Pelmo behind him, he opened the Hotel Maè in 1978, while my uncle stayed to manage the Hotel de Feo in Forno di Zoldo. Never forgetting the teachings of his great-grandfather, a kind-hearted man who had problems. He would tell his workers when they brought him bills from people in difficulty, 'Tear up everything, they're poor people; they don't owe me anything.'"






Bella (the family dog)