Lamon is a municipality of around 2,600 inhabitants in the province of Belluno, spread across a plateau at 594 metres between the Cismon and Senaiga streams, at the western tip of the Feltrino, on the border with Trentino. It is known for its PGI bean, but it is worth the climb for Monte Coppolo too, for its hamlets of rural architecture and for a history that runs along the Via Claudia Augusta.
At a glance
- Where it is: province of Belluno, western Feltrino, on the border with Trentino
- Altitude: 594 m in the main village; the territory ranges from 360 m at the hamlet of Maoli to 2,069 m on Monte Coppolo
- Area: over 54 km², with some twenty hamlets and settlements
- Historic villages: Lamon, San Donato, Arina
- Signature product: Fagiolo di Lamon della Vallata Bellunese PGI
- When to go: September for the bean festival, summer for the Coppolo, autumn for the woods
Where Lamon is and how to get there
Lamon lies at the far western edge of the province of Belluno, on a terrace between two valleys: the one carved to the east by the Cismon and the one to the south by the Senaiga, which forms Lake Senaiga just before it flows into the Cismon. It borders Arsiè, Fonzaso and Sovramonte on the Belluno side, and Canal San Bovo, Castello Tesino and Cinte Tesino on the Trentino side.
You reach it from the Passo Rolle state road linking Feltre to Primiero: at Ponte Serra, take the provincial road towards Tesino, pass through the Serra gorge and climb up the Cismon valley. It is about twenty minutes from Feltre and roughly forty from Belluno.
Why go
Because this is a mountain that has not been turned into a shop window. Lamon has no ski lifts and no queues: it has a cultivated plateau, woods, hamlets of traditional Lamon houses, and a cuisine born of a humble legume. Anyone looking for the poster-perfect Dolomites won’t find them here; anyone looking for a living village where the mountain is still a way of earning a living, will.
Monte Coppolo
Monte Coppolo (2,069 m, l Copol in the Lamon dialect) dominates the whole plateau: a great pyramidal base almost entirely covered in forest, topped by walls of limestone and dolomite rock. It has three summits: the highest is called de San Donà because it towers over the hamlet of San Donato, the second, del Archil, rises above the main village, and the third and lowest sits halfway between them. It marks the boundary between the provinces of Belluno and Trento, with the Trentino municipality of Cinte Tesino.
The normal route starts from Le Ei, above Lamon, or from Passo del Brocon. It is no trivial climb: it is the natural continuation of the Vette Feltrine, and should be tackled with the gear and fitness of an easy mountaineering outing, not a stroll.
The Lamon PGI bean
The Fagiolo di Lamon della Vallata Bellunese was awarded PGI status in 1996. It is not a single bean but four ecotypes of borlotto – Spagnol (or Ballotton), Spagnolit, Calonega and Canalino – each with its own shape, size and skin. The Spagnolit is the smallest and the most prized, for its delicate flavour and almost imperceptible skin.
The PGI area covers the Feltrina, Bellunese and Val Belluna mountain communities, but seed production remains confined to the Lamon and Sovramonte plateau, on small family farms. By tradition, sowing takes place on 3 May, the feast of the Holy Cross; harvesting is done by hand from the second half of August to the end of September, because the beans ripen gradually.
The soil explains the rest: the limestone-dolomitic soils of the fluvio-glacial terraces are rich in potassium, and potassium makes the skin dissolve more readily during cooking. That is the technical reason behind this bean’s fame.
Its origins are traced back to the sixteenth century: the Belluno humanist Pierio Valeriano is said to have received a gift of seeds from Pope Clement VII and introduced them to the Belluno area around 1532.
At the table
The dish you’ll find everywhere is pasta e fagioli. The one that tells you most is pendolon, a firm mash of potatoes and beans dressed with an onion and lard sauce: shepherds’ food, born when beans were the alternative to meat. Around it, the cooking is classic Belluno fare: pastin, schiz and polenta, fortaie.
The bean festival
The weekend devoted to the bean, part of the A tavola nel Feltrino food festival, is the main event of the year and is held in September in the old town centre, in Piazza III Novembre.
- Lamon Bean Festival 2026 – dates, programme and venue.
The hamlets
About half the inhabitants live in the main village; the other half are spread across some twenty settlements. San Donato, at 950 metres and nine kilometres from the main village, preserves its houses of traditional Lamon rural architecture and, at its southern end, a Roman-era necropolis whose finds are displayed in a museum in the village. Arina, clinging to a slope, is surrounded by woods and meadows. Bellotti, on the eastern flank of the Coppolo above the confluence of the Cismon and Vanoi, is a hamlet abandoned to emigration in the 1950s and 1960s and now reclaimed by the forest.
History: the Roman road
In imperial times the Lamon area was crossed by the Via Claudia Augusta Altinate, the military road linking Quarto d’Altino to the Danube; whether the main route or one of its branches ran exactly through here is still debated, but some stretches are visible. In the village, two buildings are worth a stop: the church of San Pietro, said by tradition to have been built on the ruins of a Roman camp, and the seventeenth-century church of San Daniele, with its spired bell tower.
Living in Lamon
In recent years Lamon has also become a place people move to, for those leaving the city in search of a mountain home at prices that no longer exist in the better-known Dolomite resorts.
- Lamon, the quiet call of the mountains – who moves here, and why.
Nearby
- Belluno Dolomites National Park – the Vette Feltrine begin just to the east.
- The lakes of the Belluno Dolomites – Lake Senaiga among them.
- The Dolomites without overtourism – the province away from the crowds.
Frequently asked questions
Where is Lamon?
In the province of Belluno, Veneto, at the western tip of the Feltrino, on a plateau at 594 metres between the Cismon and Senaiga streams, on the border with Trentino.
Is Lamon in Trentino or in Veneto?
In Veneto, in the province of Belluno. It does, however, border three Trentino municipalities, and Monte Coppolo sits right on the boundary.
Why is the Lamon bean famous?
For its very thin skin and delicate flavour, owed to the potassium-rich limestone-dolomitic soils of the plateau. It has been PGI since 1996 and comprises four ecotypes of borlotto.
How long does it take from Feltre?
About twenty minutes by car on the Tesino provincial road, from Ponte Serra.
Can you climb Monte Coppolo in a day?
Yes, by the normal route from Le Ei or from Passo del Brocon, but it is a demanding climb in an alpine environment: hiking experience is essential.
