Marcialonga

Perhaps few people know this, but the first edition of Marcialonga was not 70km but 68km. Getting to Canazei, overcoming the bottleneck of Mazzin was still impossible. The rock was overcome already in the second edition, the turning point was brought to Canazei and the route was improved considerably from the technical point of view.

The passage in the villages has always been one of the dominant characteristics of Marcialonga, conceived just like a parade among the people, a very different context from the Vasaloppet that the founding friends had been inspired by. After the departure from Moena the race follows the villages of Val di Fassa to Canazei; then, the track returns through the villages to reach Predazzo and descend the Val di Fiemme to Molina. Here, until 1991, began the final spike, the ascent of Predaia that led skiers to the village of Castello and then to Cavalese. In 1992 the famous and dreaded “salita della Cascata” was chosen as an alternative due to the lack of snow. This solution became definitive and highly appreciated that same year.

For the fiftieth edition, the track will be a modified in Molina di Fiemme taking the competitors in the center of the village, then return to the Cascata where there will be the biggest news, the “Mur de la Stria” (The Witch’s wall).

The Marcialonga soars. It is not a figure of speech, but what will really happen on the 29th of January 2023 in the final part of the route of the granfondo, along the much feared but equally fascinating final climb of Cascata.

The ascent of Cascata has been “cross and delight” for all during the years. A stretch of 2,260 meters with 146 meters of elevation gain and consequent average gradient of 6.5%: liters of ink and rivers of words to tell the battles, the escapes, the debacles, the artifices to get to the finish line of Viale Mendini in Cavalese were consumed about this climb. A series of hairpin turns that the champions of the double poling face pushing in the incitement of the public, which collects along the climb to support the champions as well as all the other Marcialongisti.

In correspondence of the last two hairpin turns, about 250 mt. before the arch that until 2022 used to mark the last kilometre, the route has been changed, continuing straight along the slope renamed by Marcialonga as the “Mur de la Stria”. We are talking about a stretch of 583 meters with “only” 58 meters of elevation gain, with an average gradient of 9.90% but with points up to 20%!

The finish line is therefore closer, but also steeper. In the previous editions the final straight in a slight descent would allow you to finally let go along the last meters, now you have to push until the last meter, gathering with credit and satisfaction of the applause of the large and warm public that will certainly fill the square of Cavalese.

Cascata ascent before and now

“MUR DE LA STRIA” Between legend and mystery

Stria is the local dialect word meaning witch. In ancient times witches were far from being considered evil creatures, but they were mostly wise women, great connoisseurs of nature and its benefits. At some point, however, consideration for them began to change, turning into an obsession and persecution, more often stemming from human envy and wickedness. They were associated with the devil and accused of plotting against humanity and God and therefore sentenced to death.

It is a famous but sad chapter the one of witch trials of the Val di Fiemme, documented by the acts of witchcraft trials in 1501 and 1504-1506. At that time, the women who were pointed out as witches had to undergo a trial. In Cavalese, the hearings took place at the current Palace of the Magnifica Comunità di Fiemme, conducted by a secular court presided over by the vicar (bishop’s judge), Scario (still head of the Magnifica Comunità di Fiemme) and by the jurors of Fiemme, while the final confession – obtained after terrible torture – with the renunciation of the defence and the reading of the sentence, took place publicly at the Banco de la Resón, in the Parco della Pieve.

This was also the fate of the twenty-eight accused women in Val di Fiemme, twenty of whom burned at the stake on a hill not far from the new ascent of Cascata, therefore baptized “the Mur de la Stria”.

The spirit of the witches of Val di Fiemme is not dormant: while you climb the “mur” you can still feel their presence, but you should not be afraid… Witches are not evil and for one day they just want to be the spectators of a memorable race.