Cibiana di Cadore

Cibiana di Cadore, roughly 12 km south of San Vito, is a small Dolomite village distinguished by a remarkable collection of outdoor murals painted on the walls of its stone houses. The paintings — dozens of them now, covering entire building facades — depict the history, traditions, and working life of the Cadore region: craftsmen, farmers, the seasonal migration of workers to northern Europe, the lumbermen who once floated timber down the Piave. Each mural is signed and dated, making a walk through the village feel like an outdoor gallery spanning four decades.

The murals are best seen on foot. A self-guided walking route leads past the principal paintings, with the route marked through the village. Cibiana also sits at the bottom of the Cibiana Pass (Passo Cibiana, 1,530 m), a quiet mountain road that sees little traffic compared to the Dolomite passes further north — worth driving over in summer for the views toward the Civetta massif. From San Vito it is a straightforward 15-minute drive south down the Boite valley.

things to do sight
A story
The mural tradition in Cibiana began in 1980 as an attempt to revive a village that was losing its population. The first paintings were placed directly on house walls without permission — a deliberate provocation that worked: residents began requesting murals of their own, and what started as artistic protest became the defining identity of the town.