The Ladins are an ethnic group in northern

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

. They are distributed in several valleys, collectively known as

Ladinia Ladinia ( lld, Ladinia) is neologism used to describe an Alpine countries, Alpine region in the Dolomites mountain range of Northern Italy, divided between the Italian provinces of Belluno, South Tyrol, and Trento. The area takes its name from ...

. These include the valleys of Badia and Gherdëina in

South Tyrol it, Provincia Autonoma di Bolzano – Alto Adige lld, Provinzia Autonoma de Balsan/Bulsan – Südtirol , settlement_type = Autonomous province , image_skyline = , image_alt ...

, of

Fassa The Fassa Valley ( Ladin: ''Fascia'', it, Val di Fassa, german: Fassatal) is a valley in the Dolomites in Trentino, northern Italy. As an administrative valley community (Italian: ''Comunità di valle'', German: ''Talgemeinschaft'') of Trentino, ...

in the

Trentino Trentino ( lld, Trentin), officially the Autonomous Province of Trento, is an autonomous province of Italy, in the country's far north. The Trentino and South Tyrol constitute the region of Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol, an autonomous region ...

, and Livinallongo (also known as Buchenstein or Fodom) and

Ampezzo Ampezzo ( fur, Dimpeç, german: Petsch) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Udine in the Italian region Friuli-Venezia Giulia, located about northwest of Trieste and about northwest of Udine. As of 31 December 2004, it had a popula ...

in the

Province of Belluno The Province of Belluno ( it, Provincia di Belluno; de-AT, Provinz Belluno; lld, Provinzia de Belum) is a province in the Veneto region of Italy. Its capital is the city of Belluno. It has an area of and a total population of about 205,000. ...

. Their native language is

Ladin Ladin may refer to: *Ladin language, a language in northern Italy, often classified as a Rhaeto-Romance language *Ladin people, the inhabitants of the Dolomite Alps region of northern Italy See also *Laden (disambiguation) *Ladino (disambiguati ...

, a

Rhaeto-Romance Rhaeto-Romance, Rheto-Romance, or Rhaetian, is a purported subfamily of the Romance languages that is spoken in south-eastern Switzerland and north-eastern Italy. The name "Rhaeto-Romance" refers to the former Roman province of Raetia. The questi ...

language related to the

Swiss Swiss may refer to: * the adjectival form of Switzerland *Swiss people Places * Swiss, Missouri *Swiss, North Carolina * Swiss, West Virginia *Swiss, Wisconsin Other uses * Swiss-system tournament, in various games and sports * Swiss Internation ...

Romansh and Friulian languages. They are part of

Tyrol Tyrol (; historically the Tyrole; de-AT, Tirol ; it, Tirolo) is a historical region in the Alps - in Northern Italy and western Austria. The area was historically the core of the County of Tyrol, part of the Holy Roman Empire, Austrian Emp ...

, with which they share culture, history, traditions, environment, and architecture. Ladins developed a national ethnic identity in the 19th century. Micurà de Rü undertook the first attempt to develop a written form of the Ladin language. Nowadays, Ladin culture is promoted by the government-sponsored cultural institute Istitut Ladin Micurà de Rü in the South Tyrolean municipality of San Martin de Tor. There is also a Ladin museum in the same municipality. The Ladins of Trentino and Belluno have their own cultural institutes, Majon de Fascegn in

Vigo di Fassa Vigo di Fassa ( lld, Vich de Fascia, german: Wiegen im Fasstal or ''Vig im Fasstal'') is a ''frazione'' of Sèn Jan di Fassa in Trentino in the northern Italy, Italian region Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol, located about northeast of Trento. ...

Cesa de Jan Cesa is a '' comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Caserta in the Italian region Campania, located about north of Naples and about southwest of Caserta. Cesa borders the following municipalities: Aversa, Gricignano di Aversa, Sant'Antimo, ...

Colle Santa Lucia Colle Santa Lucia (; Ladin language: ''Col'') is a '' comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Belluno in the Italian region of Veneto, located about north of Venice and about northwest of Belluno. As of 31 December 2004, it had a population o ...

, and

Istituto Ladin de la Dolomites Bellunese Institution to study and preserve the Ladin culture in 35 municipalities of Agordino, Cadore Cadore (; lld, Ciadòre; vec, italic=yes, Cadór or, rarely, ''Cadòria''; german: italic=yes, Cadober or ''Kadober''; Sappada German: ''Kad ...

Borca di Cadore Borca di Cadore is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the province of Belluno in the Italian region of Veneto, located about north of Venice and about north of Belluno Belluno (; lld, Belum; vec, Belùn) is a town and province in the Venet ...

. The Ladin people constitute only 4.53% of the population of South Tyrol. Many of the

South Tyrolean Sagas South is one of the cardinal directions or compass points. The direction is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to both east and west. Etymology The word ''south'' comes from Old English ''sūþ'', from earlier Proto-Germanic ''*sunþaz ...

come from the Ladin territory, including the

national epic A national epic is an epic poem or a literary work of epic scope which seeks or is believed to capture and express the essence or spirit of a particular nation—not necessarily a nation state, but at least an ethnic or linguistic group with a ...

of the Ladin people, the saga of the

Kingdom of Fanes The Kingdom of Fanes ( lld, Rëgn de Fanes) is the national epic of the Ladin people in the Dolomites and the most important part of the Ladin literature. Originally an epic cycle, today it is known through the work of Karl Felix Wolff in 1932, g ...

. Another figure from Ladin mythology is the demon Anguana.

Communities

Gallery

File:LadinGehöfte.jpg, Ladin farms in La Val File:SanktMartinSchloß.JPG,

Castle Thurn A castle is a type of fortification, fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by Military order (monastic society), military orders. Scholars debate the scope of the word ''castle'', but u ...

, San Martin de Tor in the 1960s File:TavellaLunz60er.jpg, Tavella and Lunz in La Val in the 1960s. File:PflügerWengen60.jpg, Ploughing in La Val in the 1960s.

Notable Persons

Maria Canins Maria Canins (born 5 July 1949, in La Villa, Alta Badia) is an Italian racing cyclist who twice won and came second three times in the Grande Boucle. She rode for Italy at the 1984 and 1988 Summer Olympics. Biography Canins was a cross-country ...

, Cyclist (twice winner of the Tour de France Féminin), cross-country skier (15 times national champion) and mountain runner. * Nicol Delago, professional alpine skier *

Giorgio Moroder Giovanni Giorgio Moroder (, ; born 26 April 1940) is an Italian composer, songwriter, and record producer. Dubbed the " Father of Disco", Moroder is credited with pioneering euro disco and electronic dance music. His work with synthesizers had ...

, singer, songwriter, DJ and record producer *

Ettore Sottsass Ettore Sottsass (Innsbruck, Austria 14 September 1917 – Milan, Italy 31 December 2007) was a 20th century Italian architect, noted for also designing furniture, jewellery, glass, lighting, home and office wares, as well as numerous buildings an ...

, photographer, architect and designer *

Carolina Kostner Carolina Kostner (born 8 February 1987) is an Italian figure skater. She is the 2014 Olympic bronze medalist, the 2012 World champion, a five-time European champion (2007–2008, 2010, 2012–2013), and the 2011 Grand Prix Final champion. She ...

, figure skater, 2014 Olympic bronze medalist, 2012 World champion, and five-time European champion. * Simon Kostner, ice hockey player, represented the Italian national team in several tournaments. * Erwin Kostner, ice hockey player, competed in the men's tournament at the

1984 Winter Olympics The 1984 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XIV Olympic Winter Games ( Serbo-Croatian and Slovene: ''XIV. Zimske olimpijske igre''; Cyrillic: XIV Зимске олимпијске игре; mk, XIV Зимски олимписки иг� ...

. *

Kristian Ghedina Kristian Ghedina (; born 20 November 1969) is an Italian alpine skiing coach and former competitive racer. His 13 victories are the second most by an Italian downhill specialist in World Cup history: the first is Dominik Paris with 21 victori ...

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the concept i ...

alpine ski racer whose thirteen victories are the most by an Italian downhill specialist in World Cup history. * Simona Senoner, cross-country racer and ski jumper * Peter Runggaldier, professional Alpine skier

References

External links

Istitut Cultural Ladin Micurà de Rü
(in South Tyrol), official site
Istitut Cultural Ladin Majon di Fascegn
(in Trentino), official site
Istitut Cultural Ladin Cesa de Jan
(in Belluno province), official site {{Authority control Ladin people Ethnic groups in Italy Romance peoples South Tyrol

Communities

Gallery

Notable Persons

See also

Further reading

References

External links