“This war manor, which attests the history of military conflicts between Italy and Austria, was built in 1897 on a project by the General Schiesser to defend the boundaries of the Austro-Hungarian Empire from the restless Nationalist Italy. Bombed at the beginning of World War I was in ruins…”
The “Forte” dates back to 1897 and it is located in the main road of the Dolomites (SS. 48 Dolomites). At the end of the war the building had been partly demolished by grenades of the Italian artillery. However, in great measure the Forte has remained intact thanks to the large walls which compose it (maximum width 1.70 cm). The building has a cubic form and the interior rooms have been preserved as original as possible. On the corners of the central body there are 2 turrets. One of them was destroyed by a grenade while the other one houses the building entrance and, on the upper floor, a romantic restaurant room.
In 1972 Waillant family restored the “Forte” and use it as a restaurant. At the end of the last century Jolanda and Nino Waillant finalized the work building an elegant Hotel connected to the “Forte” through the secret and strategic passage of the Austrian troops. Al Forte Festungshotel is still managed by Waillant family which carries out from generation to generation the hotel tradition with passion.
The Legend of King Laurino
Once upon a time there was an enchanting Kingdom full of red roses with bright shades. Laurino was the King. A short and not good looking little man, King Laurino, get its strength from a magic belt that he never left. One day he fell in love with a beautiful girl, Similda, the princess of a foreign Kingdom. He decided to carry her in his Kingdom by his trusted dwarfs …They entered the Kingdom of Similda, kidnapped her by a stratagem and conducted her in the presence of their King. The princess Similda was enchanted by the splendour of the Rose Garden and affected by King Laurino, although he was not young and beautiful, was Valiant and a man of great Value. They spent together happy days without worries.
One day, however, Prince Dietrich von Berne and his warriors come in order to rescue the princess Similda. Arriving at the border of the Kingdom of Roses was surprised.
He was afraid to meet harsh enemy resistance and, on the contrary, he found only a very thin silk yarn which marked a bright land of beautiful roses and peaceful souls of its inhabitants. However, overwhelmed with anger against the King Laurino, he snapped off the yarn and burst into the Kingdom causing violent fights with the brave dwarfs who defended it. They were overcome and Laurino, deprived of the magic belt, was finally defeated, humiliated and deprived of his beloved. So Similda had to leave the Kingdom of Roses.
Laurino was full of pain, alone and with a terrible sense of guilt because he had gained the love of the beautiful princess Similda by the deception of the kidnapping. Then, with a spell, decided to petrify the whole kingdom – neither by day nor by night, he said – taking the colour of the moon, pale and sad. The Rose Garden was transformed into steep cliffs and sharp peaks, the Pale Mountains. However, Laurino in saying his spell forgot two important moments of the day, the sunrise and the sunset. Since that time, but only during those moments thanks to the sun light, Pale Mountains had the wonderful colour of roses that covered the Kingdom of King Laurino before the inauspicious spell.
Every fairy tale, every legend, as everybody knows, narrates in an original way great truth. The truth of our legend is in the unique colour of the Dolomites Mountains, on the sunrise and on the sunset. The soft light of the sun reflected by the white rocks of the Dolomites seems to inflame every peak standing over the sky.
This is the fairy Enrosadira Colour, The Colour of Roses.
