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This might well be regarded by some as the least exciting stretch of The Great Dolomite Road! I must say that I was surprised by how well it has been covered by photographers in the past.
The hamlet of Andraz, at about 1,400 metres, on the stretch of the Road that leads up eventually to the Passo Falzarego, is not that much changed in 100 years. However, that is not to say that it is visible any longer from the point that Zardini chose to photograph it. I found a spot on the Road about a kilometre above Andraz with a skyline that exactly matched Zardini’s photo, but a century of tree growth and the appearance of two roadside barns robbed me of the viewpoint I sought.
In the Zardini guide to the Road for travellers towards Bolzano, which I acquired in January 2013, the photograph across Andraz is an updated one:
The viewpoint is almost the same, but the village is more developed. Given Zardini probably used the same viewpoint as before, and also given the extent of modern forestation hereabouts, I think this view will have been lost too.
This postcard is also credited to Zardini also, and is, from my estimation, from about the same date:
Not long after discovering these pictures, I bought this postcard after an on-line search.
It pre-dates Zardini’s photograph, in my opinion. All of Zardini’s photos show a pair of buildings beside the road, just right of the centre of the photo. These are not there in this earlier picture. Notice also the more extensive woodland in the older photo, however. The woods are almost certain to have been thinned to meet the need for wood for buildings etc during the nearby WW1 fighting a few kilometres up The Road at Falzarego, and at Col di Lana.
I also have this view of Andraz from the south (ie heading up towards Passo Falzarego) The Castello di Andraz (see Photo 23) is just right of centre in the shot. There has been much forest growth in this area since the picture was taken, in the 1930s, and the same view would not be possible nowadays:
Those white buildings by the Road, towards the bottom left of the postcard above, include the Albergo Andraz, which is seen in this Ghedina postcard from the 1950s or early 1960s:
By September 2013, the Albergo had been a semi-derelict shell for many years:
I was delighted to find that the Tom Barnes photos (see my Home page) included two photos from this area. First is his view of the Albergo Andraz, as seen travelling in the opposite direction to the two photos above:
And just a little further down The Road, he took this photo by the road leading to Andraz village:
