The Vajont dam is still standing. Intact, unbroken, a little over 260 metres tall: it did not fail that night and it has not failed since. It is the only thing left in place in a valley where 1,910 people died on 9 October 1963.
That is what catches most visitors off guard. You do not come here to see a ruin. You come to see a perfectly successful piece of engineering built in the wrong place, and the town that four minutes of water erased below it.
This guide covers what you can actually visit between Longarone, the dam, Erto and Casso, with opening times, prices and 2026 dates taken from the official sources, and how to do it without turning a cemetery into an attraction.
What happened, briefly
The dam was completed in October 1959 by the Italian utility SADE: a double-curvature arch dam, among the tallest in the world at the time. The dam was never the problem. Monte Toc, the mountainside forming the left flank of the reservoir, was moving. And that was known.
At 10.39 pm on 9 October 1963, around 260 million cubic metres of that mountainside slid into the lake in a matter of seconds. The displaced water ran up the opposite slope and then over the crest of the dam: roughly 50 million cubic metres fell more than two hundred metres into the Piave valley below.
Down there were Longarone, Pirago, Rivalta, Villanova and Faè. When the wall of water and compressed air had passed, they were gone. The memorial cemetery at Fortogna holds 1,910 white markers, one for every confirmed victim; other counts put the total higher, and only around 1,500 bodies were ever recovered and identified.
In 2008 the United Nations listed Vajont among five cautionary tales of disaster caused by the failure of engineers and geologists. That is not rhetoric: it is why the site is still studied in engineering and geology courses worldwide.
The dam held, and that is the point
Visitors expecting rubble are always surprised. The wall is whole. The reservoir behind it is now dry, filled with the landslide debris, and the dam is owned by Enel. You can walk across the top of it.
Vajont is not the story of a structure that broke. It is the story of a structure built well in a place already identified as dangerous, where the decision was taken to carry on regardless. Keep that distinction in mind for the whole visit: it changes the meaning of everything you look at.
The memorial sites in Longarone
Museo Longarone Vajont, Attimi di Storia
Start here. The museum sits in the centre of the rebuilt town at Piazza Gonzaga 1, and gathers photographs, objects, testimony and film covering life before the disaster, the building of the dam, the night of 9 October, the rescue effort and the reconstruction.
- Opening hours: Tuesday to Sunday, 9.30-12.30 and 15.00-18.00.
- 13 July to 6 September: open daily, same hours.
- Last admission thirty minutes before closing.
- Tickets: 6 euro full; 4 euro reduced for children aged 6-12, visitors with disabilities and groups over 20; free under 6.
- Phone +39 0437 770119.
The memorial church by Giovanni Michelucci
The church of Santa Maria Immacolata looks like nothing else in the Dolomites: an elliptical reinforced-concrete structure built as two stacked amphitheatres, one roofed and holding the altar, one open to the sky. It houses the Pietre Vive museum and works simultaneously as a church and as a monument to the victims. Even if you do not go inside, walk around it, because it was designed to be read from outside.
The Pirago bell tower
Of the village of Pirago, a sixteenth-century bell tower and the eastern apse of the church of San Tomaso remain. Nothing else. It is the most eloquent monument in the valley precisely because nobody designed it as one: it was simply there, and the wave went around it.
The memorial cemetery at Fortogna
Four kilometres south of Longarone, on a maize field consecrated in haste because the wave had not reached it, lies the cemetery of the victims. Today it is a meadow of 1,910 aligned white marble markers, one for each victim, entered through a portal that echoes the shape of the dam. An upper terrace looks out over the field, with the names on metal plaques.
It has been a national monument since 2003, entry is free, and the site is step-free. It is also the one place on this itinerary where you should put the camera away.
Walking across the dam crest
Guided tours of the dam are run by the Dolomiti Friulane Regional Nature Park, and they are the only way to get onto the crest. You cannot simply walk up.
The crest walk
- Duration: 50 minutes.
- Price: 7.00 euro per adult; free under 6.
- Group size: maximum 40 people.
- Meeting point: the square by the memorial chapel next to the dam.
- Booking: online through the VivaTicket portal, or in person at the Vajont information point during opening hours.
- Arrive ten minutes early.
A few practical warnings the Park publishes and that are worth taking seriously: the route is on foot, there are stairs, and it is not suitable for anyone who suffers from vertigo or panic attacks. No stiletto heels. Wheelchairs are admitted only on the first section. Dogs are discouraged, because the walkway is metal grating.
The 2026 calendar
- April: Sundays 5 and 26, plus selected dates around the 25th.
- May to September: weekends, and every day from 25 July to 31 August.
- October: Sundays only.
- Last date of the season: 1 November 2026. Winter closure from 2 November.
Arrive in late autumn or winter and you will find the dam visible from the outside but the crest closed. Worth knowing before you plan the trip: our guide to the Belluno Dolomites in autumn covers what else shuts down in that season.
The longer tours
The Park also runs two itineraries that go beyond the crest and into the disaster sites themselves:
- Two hours: the crest plus the former construction yard.
- Three hours: the crest plus the landslide and the old forest, around 5 kilometres of easy walking, suitable for anyone.
Take the longer one if you have the time. Walking on the debris of Monte Toc, inside a reservoir that is no longer a lake, explains more than any information panel.
Erto and Casso, the other side of the valley
First, the thing that confuses almost everyone: Erto e Casso is not in the province of Belluno and not in the Veneto. It is a municipality in the province of Pordenone, in Friuli Venezia Giulia, at 775 metres. The regional border runs through the Vajont valley itself. From Longarone it is a twenty-minute drive, but it is a different region, with different tourist signage and a different authority running the services.
The Park visitor centre
At Piazzale del Ritorno 3, the Dolomiti Friulane Park visitor centre holds two exhibitions: «Vajont: images and memories», with historical photographs of life before the disaster, and a space devoted to the scientific reconstruction of the landslide, with panels, charts, three-dimensional models and multimedia material.
- January to June: Saturdays and Sundays, 11.00-18.00.
- July: Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, 11.00-18.00.
- August: daily from 24 July, 11.00-18.00.
- September: Saturdays and Sundays, 11.00-18.00.
- Phone +39 0427 87333.
Casso and old Erto
Casso is the village the wave reached as it climbed. It sits high up, directly facing the landslide, and was not swept away but hit by the blast of compressed air. Around ten people live there now. You explore it on foot only, leaving the car at the entrance, and it still has ruined houses and exposed foundations that nobody chose to rebuild.
Erto, lower down, was almost entirely rebuilt, but the old core survives: stone tower-houses leaning against one another, narrow lanes, and the workshop of Mauro Corona, the writer and sculptor who has made this village the raw material of nearly all his books.
The Sentiero del Carbone, the old coal path, links the two villages. Around the former reservoir runs the giro del lago, a loop of roughly 14 kilometres that can be done on foot, by bike or by car.
Longarone today, which is not only Vajont
There is something people in Longarone say often to visitors, and it is worth hearing: this is a living town, not a memorial. It was rebuilt from scratch, it has a little over four thousand inhabitants, and it has an exhibition centre that makes it known worldwide for a reason that has nothing to do with 1963.
Longarone Fiere hosts MIG, the International Artisan Gelato Show, running in 2026 from 29 November to 2 December. It is the historic gathering of Italian gelato makers, and it has deep local roots: generations of gelatieri emigrated from the Piave valley and the Zoldo valley to half of Europe.
Stay a night and you get an unpretentious valley-floor town, a good base for the lake district and the Val di Zoldo, and far cheaper than Cortina.
Getting there, and how long you need
By train. Longarone has its own station, Longarone-Zoldo, on the Belluno-Calalzo line. It is one of the few Italian memorial sites you can reach without a car: the museum and the memorial church are within walking distance of the platform.
By car. Longarone is on the SS51 Alemagna, the Belluno-Cortina road. From there it is about ten minutes uphill to the dam; beyond the dam the road continues to Erto, Casso and the Valcellina.
How long. The museum and the church fill a morning. The crest tour plus the cemetery at Fortogna fill an afternoon. Add Erto, Casso and the Park visitor centre and you need a full day, better split over two half-days: the valley is narrow and the light goes early.
Visiting without doing disaster tourism
Vajont shares a problem with only a handful of places in Italy: it has become a destination, and the people who live here can tell the difference between someone who came to understand and someone who came to look.
There is no complicated etiquette. Four things are enough.
- Fortogna is quiet. It is not a park: it is the cemetery where the relatives of people who still live here are buried.
- No photographs of yourself with the markers behind you. The same goes for the dam crest.
- Do not ask residents to tell you about it. In Erto and in Longarone almost every family lost someone. If somebody wants to talk about it they will, but it is not small talk for a bar.
- Pay the entrance fee. The museum, the visitor centre and the guided tours are what keeps these places open.
On 9 October, a Friday in 2026, Longarone holds its annual commemoration. The detailed programme is published by the municipality in the preceding weeks and is not yet available for 2026. It is a date to attend, not a date to sightsee.
Frequently asked questions
Can I walk onto the dam on my own?
No. The crest is only accessible on a guided tour run by the Dolomiti Friulane Park, with advance booking. The dam itself is visible and photographable from outside, from the road and from the square by the memorial chapel.
How much does visiting Vajont cost?
The Longarone museum is 6 euro (4 reduced), the crest tour 7 euro. The Fortogna cemetery and the memorial church are free. Twenty euro per person covers everything.
Is it suitable for children?
It depends on age and on how you prepare them. The museum works from roughly secondary-school age upwards. The crest tour is free under 6 but involves stairs and a metal grating walkway, and is not for anyone afraid of heights.
Is Erto e Casso in the province of Belluno?
No: it is in the province of Pordenone, in Friuli Venezia Giulia. The Vajont valley is split between two regions, and tourist services are run by different bodies on each side.
When is the best time to go?
May to September, if you want the widest choice of dates for the crest tour. In October tours run on Sundays only, and from 2 November 2026 they are suspended until spring.
A place you do not visit so much as cross
In the end Vajont resembles no other stop in the Belluno Dolomites. There is no summit to reach, no viewpoint to earn, no mountain hut. There is a perfectly preserved concrete wall, a mountain with a piece missing, and a field of white markers four kilometres away.
Spend half a day here and you go back down with a different idea of what these mountains are, and of how little it takes for an entire valley to stop existing. It is the exact opposite of a postcard, and that is why it is worth the journey.
Keep exploring
- Belluno Dolomites National Park: what to see and how to visit
- The Belluno Dolomites in autumn
- The lakes of the Belluno Dolomites
- The Alta Via trails: which one to walk
- The weight of too many
Cover image: the Vajont dam. Photo: Jonathan.astolfi, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0.