Rivamonte Agordino
Rivamonte Agordino is a small municipality in the Agordine Dolomites, in the heart of the province of Belluno, set along the Corde...
Updated 12 July 2026
The story
The story of Rivamonte Agordino
In the heart of the Agordine Dolomites
Rivamonte Agordino lies in the Agordino, the area of the province of Belluno named after the nearby district capital Agordo, along the course of the Cordevole stream. The landscape is typical of the Belluno Dolomites: wooded slopes climbing steeply towards rock walls, small hamlets scattered along the valley, and a silence broken only by the sound of water. Part of the municipal territory falls within the Belluno Dolomites National Park, which guarantees environmental protection but also limits large-scale tourism development. This is a place for those seeking authentic mountains, not the big ski resorts of nearby Marmolada or Civetta.
The Valle Imperina Mines
Rivamonte Agordino's real jewel is the Valle Imperina Mining Centre, a complex for extracting copper, silver, pyrite and iron sulphate, documented since 1411 when the Republic of Venice had it mapped, though exploitation had likely been under way for far longer. For roughly three centuries the mines were the economic core of the entire Agordino: in 1609 around 400 people worked there as miners, roasters and furnace workers, rising to about 600 by 1801. It is one of the best-documented historic mining sites in the eastern Alps, and walking among its structures means retracing centuries of labour, technique and everyday mining life.
From closure to museum recovery
The mines were purchased in 1910 by the Montecatini company, which closed them in 1962 not because the deposit was exhausted but due to poor production yield. The 1966 flood, which devastated much of the Veneto, marked the site's definitive closure. In 1989 the municipality of Rivamonte Agordino bought back the entire mining area from Montedison, beginning a conservation process that in 1993 led to the site's inclusion in the Belluno Dolomites National Park. After decades of restoration work, the Mining Centre is now fully open as a museum, reopened in May 2024, with exhibits telling the story of life in the mines, the environmental impact of extraction, and local traditions tied to charcoal production.
Village life among the mountains
Outside the mining site, Rivamonte Agordino remains a small mountain municipality with a reduced population, having experienced, like much of the Agordino, significant depopulation in the postwar decades. Daily life revolves around a handful of activities, livestock farming and forest management, with most services found in nearby Agordo. It wouldn't be honest to paint it as a lively tourist hub: it's rather an authentic village, living off its own territory, which in recent years has been betting on the recovery of its mining memory and on hiking tourism to attract mindful visitors rather than mass tourism.
Along the trails of the Belluno Dolomites National Park
Since part of Rivamonte Agordino's territory falls within the Belluno Dolomites National Park, it offers a network of hiking trails combining nature and history in a single day: from the woods around the Cordevole to panoramic points over the surrounding peaks. It's an area frequented mostly by experienced hikers and those who love trekking away from the crowds, with refuges and paths far less busy than in more famous Dolomite areas. The contrast between Valle Imperina's industrial archaeology and the untouched nature surrounding it is probably the most authentic experience this municipality has to offer.
Experiences not to miss
- A visit to the Mining Centre and the Valle Imperina museum
- A hike through the woods of the Belluno Dolomites National Park
- A walk along the Cordevole stream
- Discovering the mining history of the Agordine Dolomites
- Trekking towards the surrounding peaks and viewpoints
To see
What to see in Rivamonte Agordino
Routes · Trovido Route
Routes in Rivamonte Agordino
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