Top of the World
A village made of wood and stone, where the ancient Ladin language is spoken, the ideal place to start discovering the Catinaccio group. The first thing you notice when you arrive in Vigo (part of San Giovanni di Fassa - Sèn Jan) is the view. If you look around you, your gaze sweeps from the Catinaccio Dolomite group to the Marmolada. It is no coincidence that Vigo was one of the first tourist centres in the valley. Since the dawn of the 19th century, in fact, the village began to be frequented by geologists and mountaineers, and then became a favourite destination for mountain lovers, both in winter and in summer. Today Vigo is one of the most beautiful villages in Italy, thanks to its natural riches and its Ladin identity, which you can discover in the village museum or walking along the alleys, among the stone barns and churches with pointed roofs ... or maybe at the table, in front of a plate of cajoncie da fighes.A must in the village is the Museo Ladin de Fascia, a modern and innovative museum that houses the ethnographic collections of the Ladin Cultural Institute. Multimedia aids, information points and drawings by the artist Milo Manara will help you discover the culture of the fascinating people who have lived in this area for thousands of years. Not far from the museum, there is the beautiful Pieve di San Giovanni, the symbolic church of Vigo, with its characteristic 67-metre high bell tower, covered in grey larch shingles. Also worth a visit is the Monzoni Mineralogical Museum, which houses the most complete collection of Dolomite minerals, which emerged from the sea 250 million years ago, collected and carefully preserved. Once you have left the village, you can reach the natural terrace of Ciampedìe, at an altitude of 1998 metres, on foot (for the more experienced) or by cable car, from where many routes to discover the Fassa Dolomites start.
