Inhabitants of Erto e Casso, a small village consisting of a series of small settlements overlooking the Vajont lake, watched the 1963 tragedy happen in front of their eyes. Although mostly unharmed, authorities forced them to evacuate the area day after the tragedy, making it impossible to return to their houses for indistinct reasons, the ’Wall of Shame’ was built rapidly, a roadblock that prevented people to go back to their houses. Many locals claim that for them, the real tragedy started following the disaster; the failure of the court of justice, the power of the companies, dishonest compensations and the ignorant treatment by authorities. In 1966, a group of 60 families went back to their houses illegally and lived there for over 8 years in inhumane conditions, without running water or electricity. After that, the suppression dissolved and although esteemed ridiculous and unnecessary by the inhabitants, new houses were built. Petra Stavast focusses on the people from Erto e Casso that were both spectators of the ’63 tragedy and part of ‘gli illegal’, a self-mocking nickname for the families that returned to what was theirs and struggled against injustice.
Captions with image 09a+b: Vajont Study / Floor of my studio
1: Scale model (1:35) of the Vajont Dam, in the Laboratory of ISMES in Bergamo. At the time of its construction, it was the tallest dam in the world, 264.60 meters.
– Erto e Casso Visitor Center
2: Victims of Erto e Casso
Research and design by Luciano de Sopra
Images from ‘Il Mio Vajont’ by Osvaldo Martinelli
– Erto e Casso Visitor Center
3: Fragment about ‘Il gioco della Morra’ (the game of ‘Morra’) from the essay ‘Sulla pelle viva. Come si costruisce una catastrofe. Il caso del Vajont’ (‘On the living skin. How to build a catastrophe. The case of Vajont’) by journalist and writer Tina Merlin, first published in 1983.
4: Bodies recovered on the banks of the Piave River, reassembled at the cemetery in Cadola on 10 and 11 October, 1963.
– Il Giornale della Protezione Civile
5: Road block before entering Erto, instituted immediately after the landslide, 1963.
– Focus Magazine / Dentro il Vajont, 2013
6: The ‘wall of shame’, built to prevent access to the valley of Vajont, 1963.
– Focus Magazine / Dentro il Vajont, 2013
7: List of tariff of the Vajont compensation
– Focus Magazine / Dentro il Vajont, 2013
8: Photo’s by geologist Edoardo Semenza (1927 – 2002), son of Carlo Semenza (1893 – 1961, designer of the Vajont Dam) of the cracks at the eroded banks, which opened at an altitude of 600 m . above, to 1360 m. long
and 1800 m. wide along the top edge, between 50 and 100 cm in depth. From his observations emerges the summit profile of paleolandslide, in the form of an M.
– Book ‘Vajont, imagini di ‘Toc’ prima e dopo’ (Vajont, images of Mount Toc before and after) by Giovanni Sesso, 2013.
9: Domenico Filippin, victim of the catastrophe at the age of 35.
Source: Erto e Casso Visitor Center
10, 11: List of spectators of the catastrophe still living in Erto e Casso I should visit.
– Compiled by Italo Filippin, former Major and inhabitant of Erto e Casso.
12: Valentina Fabbrio, victim of the catastrophe at the age of 19.
– Erto e Casso Visitor Center
13: Photos by geologist Edoardo Semenza, July 1959. Compilation of the left side of Mesazzo Valley, at the height of the Pineda. At the top the preserved layering, landslides are clearly visible at the bottom.
– Geological study on the reservoir Vajont by geologists Franco Giudici, Daniele Rossi and Edoardo Semenza, published by k-flash/Fondazione Vajont, 2004.
14: Photos by geologist Edoardo Semenza, April 1960. Southern part of the west wall of Mount Toc where the disorganised structure of the lower layers is visable.
– Geological study on the reservoir Vajont by geologists Franco Giudici, Daniele Rossi and Edoardo Semenza, published by k-flash/Fondazione Vajont, 2004.
15: Photos by geologist Edoardo Semenza, April 1960. Compilation of the west wall of the tip of Mount Toc, with folding and numerous fractures in the disorganized structure of the right part of the image.
– Geological study on the reservoir Vajont by geologists Franco Giudici, Daniele Rossi and Edoardo Semenza, published by k-flash/Fondazione Vajont, 2004.
16: Photos by geologist Daniele Rossi, late October 1963. View on the landslide of Mount Toc, seen from Lastroni. Rocks are partly covered with debris, which represent the starting zones of the mass sliding.
– Geological study on the reservoir Vajont by geologists Franco Giudici, Daniele Rossi and Edoardo Semenza, published by k-flash/Fondazione Vajont, 2004.
17, 18: Topographic map of the larger municipality of Erto e Casso before the landslide of October 9, 1963.
– Geological study on the reservoir Vajont by geologists Franco Giudici, Daniele Rossi and Edoardo Semenza, published by k-flash/Fondazione Vajont, 2004.
Gli abitanti di Erto e Casso, un piccolo paese che consiste in una serie di costituito da una serie di piccoli insediamenti che si affacciano su quello che era il lago del Vajont, guardarono la tragedia accadere proprio di fronte ai propri occhi nel 1963. Anche se la maggior parte illesi, le autorità li costrinsero ad evacuare l’area il giorno dopo la tragedia, impedendone il ritorno alle rispettive case per motivi indistinti. Mediante il posizionamento di un posto di blocco che impediva alle persone di tornare alle proprie case si costituì rapidamente una sorta di ‘muro della vergogna’. Molti ritengono che per loro la vera tragedia sia iniziata dopo il disastro; il fallimento della Corte di Giustizia, il potere delle imprese, i compensi disonesti ed il comportamento ignorante da parte delle autorità. Nel 1966 un gruppo di 60 famiglie tornò illegalmente nelle proprie case e abitò lì per 8 anni in condizioni inumane, senza acqua corrente ed elettricità. Anni dopo la repressione si calmò e, nonostante gli abitanti le stimassero ridicole e non necessarie, furono costruite nuove case.
Petra Stavast ha focalizzato la sua ricerca sulle popolazioni di Erto e Casso, effettivi spettatori della tragedia del ’63 e parte di ‘gli illegal’, un soprannome con valore auto-ironico che gli abitanti, quelli che ritornarono a ciò che di diritto loro apparteneva, si sono dati. La loro volontà er quella di lottare contro l’ingiustizia.