Domegge di Cadore
Domegge di Cadore is a small mountain municipality in the province of Belluno, overlooking the Lago di Centro Cadore, a large arti...
Updated 12 July 2026
The story
The story of Domegge di Cadore
The Lago di Centro Cadore
The Lago di Centro Cadore is a large artificial reservoir created by damming the Piave river, completed in 1949 with the Pieve di Cadore dam, which flooded a stretch of valley once crossed by the river, creating an elongated lake set among the mountains. The reservoir embraces the territory of several municipalities, including Domegge, Calalzo, Pieve, Lozzo and Lorenzago di Cadore, and is today one of the most characteristic landscape features of the Centro Cadore area. The lake's shores, with the village of Domegge overlooking them directly, offer panoramic views of the surrounding Dolomites and have become, over the years, a reference point for recreational and water sports activities.
The Dolomites of Cadore
Domegge di Cadore lies at the heart of Cadore, a Dolomite area of the Belluno province that was the birthplace of painters such as Titian, born in nearby Pieve di Cadore, and which today forms part of the UNESCO Dolomites World Heritage. The mountains surrounding the town offer a high-altitude environment rich in woods, mountain huts and hiking trails, a destination for those seeking authentic mountains, less crowded than the major ski resorts of the Cortina d'Ampezzo area but no less spectacular in landscape terms. The combination of lake and mountains makes Domegge an interesting base for alternating high-altitude hikes and lake activities during the same stay.
The birth of the eyewear industry
The economic history of Domegge di Cadore is inseparably linked to the birth of the eyewear industry: in 1878 the Frescura brothers and Giovanni Lozza started the area's first eyewear factory here, harnessing the power of the Molinà stream, along whose banks sawmills and mills already existed. From that first artisanal workshop grew an activity that would involve the whole of Cadore, giving rise to some of the industry's most important companies worldwide, such as Marcolin and Lozza, both born in this territory. The second half of the twentieth century saw the eyewear industry progressively replace traditional agro-pastoral activities as the main source of income for the local population.
The rural hamlets of Grea and Rizzios
Within the municipal territory of Domegge lie the small rural hamlets of Grea and Rizzios, mountain settlements that have kept traditional wood-and-stone architecture, evidence of the agro-pastoral life that characterised Cadore before industrial development. These hamlets, less known than the area's main centres, offer an authentic picture of the Belluno mountains, with barns, mountain huts and small churches that tell of a way of life largely vanished but still legible in the landscape. A route through these rural settlements helps to better understand the territory's transformation, from a farming world to the industrial one linked to eyewear.
Lake life and water sports
The Lago di Centro Cadore is today the main focus for Domegge's summer recreational activities, with canoeing, sailing and other water sports practised on the reservoir's waters, surrounded by a striking mountain landscape. The lake shores lend themselves to walks and cycling, while in the winter months the landscape is transformed by snow on the surrounding peaks. It is a balance between lake and mountain that makes Domegge a versatile destination for nature-based tourism in every season, away from the heavy flows of the more famous Dolomite resorts.
Experiences not to miss
- Canoe or sail on the waters of the Lago di Centro Cadore
- Walk along the lake shores with views of the Dolomites
- Discover the rural hamlets of Grea and Rizzios and their traditional architecture
- Trace the history of the eyewear industry born here in 1878 along the Molinà stream
- Hike the mountain trails of Cadore, among woods and mountain huts
To see
What to see in Domegge di Cadore
Routes · Trovido Route
