The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1922-01-11
The Sesto Valley: Battle Ground
OF Names and Gnns.

Of Names and Gnns.
:Washinston,. ID. c., Jan AN
inconspicuous dispatch from Boil
Zano. Italy. stating that forest fires
in the Sesto Valley have destroyed
several villages leaving hundreds Of
persons homeless. in addition to
recording a local calamity, tells
between the lines its story of~the
new postwar. Italy" says bull
letin from the Washington, D. c.,
headquarters of the National Geo
graphic Society. Seven years
ago" continues the bulletin, "a
similar story would have borne the
date-iine .Bozen,. Austria and told
OF Austrian losses in the .SaXen-
Tai
This beautiful valley that has
changed its name, one Of the IA
nous scenic patches in the old
Austrian 1Tyrol, was q part of the
never forgotten Italia Irredenta
and is now once more under the
Italian flag. In common with Sthe
mountains, valleys and towns all
about it this region kept its Ital-
ian aliases through the long alien
rule and as soon as the flag Of Italy
again flew over it they became its
true names.
Towering Pinnacles Like Fairy Pal
aces.
''The Sesto valley is in the edge
of the picturesque Dolmomite Alps.
one of the scenic nleccas OF Europe.
Unlike the other mountains Of the
Alps, the Dolomites are formed Of
raised beds Of limestone. With
their upper portions bare crags,
worn into towering pinnacles and
fantastic forms by weather, they
differ strikingly from the more
familiar mountains Of Switzerland,
as we'll as from the other TNrolean
and Trentino Alps. The great rock
masses Of the Dolomites are a light
ashen gray, but here and there var
ious minerals have painted them
with splotches Of orange, red and
violet. Bathed in the rays OF the
rising or setting sun in fine wealth
er. their pinnacles become the
spires of rainbow-hued fairy pal
aces and gilded pleasure domes
such as Xanadu might boast.
THE valleys Of the tributaries OF
the upper Adige furnish the doors
to this scenic region. The Sesto.
however is just beyond the last
valley in the northeast which emp
ties into the -Adige, and It's waters
flow instead into the Drave OFT TO
the>Danube. Before the World War
tho. Italo-Austrian boundary ran
across The southern beginning OF
the Sesto valley along the crest OF
the Dolomites. The new boundary
lies only a few miles to the north,
so thar the Sesto region is very
close j., the frontier
Cannon Thundcred From Peaks
~..Much fighting took place in the
Sesto region during the war. Cn-
bclievably heavy guns were hauled
to the crests OF peaks that noun
tain climbers had difficulty IN
reaching in the years when tins
country was given up in summer 10
tourists. Across valleys like the
Scsto these huge engines OF de-
struction thundered at each other
as step by step the Italians drove
the Austrians back. Many single
combat was waged on narrow rock
iedces thousands of feet above the
valley floors. Life in the valleys
was far from the delightful exist
ence it had been, for Austrian
shells were even 'lobed over the
Dolomitc peaks upon the villages
beyond-villages whose people IN
spite of long control by a Ger
manic government, mostly pore
Italian names and spoke Italian.
Tourists have been strags!lnS
back to the Sesto valley in the past
few seasons. and life is taking on
something of it's old color. But
though the landmarks are as Of old
they must be approached with
new vocabulary. One traEels the
same road but for all that ne en-
ters the scenic wonderland not at
1nnichen but at San Candido; ana
where he once climbed the Zwoi-
fcrkopfl he now looks down on
familiar ground from Col. Dod'ci'