The last Italian village, at the border with Austria and Slovenia, Tarvisio is the heart of the Val Canale area. Immersed in thousand-year-old forest, surrounded by the Julian Alps and three splendid lakes (two in Fusine in Valromana and one in Cave del Predil), it is a crossroads of languages and cultures. A destination for numerous pilgrims thanks to the evocative Madonna del Lussari Sanctuary (also known as the Sanctuary of the Three Peoples), it is located in the hamlet on the top of Mount Lussari, a true jewel of unequalled charm (1,789 m). Founded in 1399, the Carinthian-style church of Santi Pietro e Paolo is one of the most significant examples of fortified churches of the whole Alpine arc. Surrounded by a boundary wall and furnished with towers (two of them remain), it has ensured a refuge for all its inhabitants, as on the occasion of the Turkish invasion of 1478.
Photography by Ulderica Da Pozzo
