Our itinerary begins near the Cascatelle, crossing the wooden bridge that traverses the Rio dei Mulini. We leave behind the 19th century Calvario, a stations of the cross built for penitential purposes, and the Piccolo Museo della Grande Guerra (a World War One museum) founded in 2002 from a desire to honour both the area where the Piave, the Sacred River of the Fatherland, springs eternal, and the men who faced each other in these places during the First World War. It hosts a rich exhibition of finds and relics belonging to the two opposing sides, Italian and Austrian. This was a war of position at high altitude, even during harsh winters, from the outbreak of hostilities in the spring of 1915 until the Italian defeat at Caporetto and the consequent retreat of the front, in the autumn of 1917. On the external facade of the museum, you can admire a large mural created by Pierantonio Chiaradia.
We continue up the hill in front of the Alpine Wildlife Park. From above we barely have time to take a look at the valley and we are already within history itself, or rather the local micro-history, made up of religious faith, everyday life, and hard work.
The little chapel dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus precedes a large wooden crucifix that stands out at the entrance to Mühlbach, the village that takes its name from the stream on which water mills were once active.
Signs of the sacred, such as small chapels, votive shrines or crucifixes, a fountain, or sometimes several of them, with their copious, icy waters, are constant elements that we will encounter in every village.
A few steps on and, past the building that houses the local schools, formerly the Town Hall, we are in the heart of Milpa with its sturdy wooden houses, the Blockhäuser. On the right, we immediately encounter one of the oldest, s’Paurn haus, and then a small nucleus on the left gathered around the Milpa s’Ènders house.
