In the years of the barbarian invasions a tribe of savages invaded Comelico. In vain they opposed that destructive horde, despite the value of their leader Rinaldo. Taken prisoner, he was forced to dig a deep pit near the Piave in Santo Stefano
; he was thrown into it, mocked and vilified in anticipation of the supreme judgment to be made the next day at dawn, being too intent being the barbarians that day at the looting of the village. Rinaldo, strong and generous (for these his talents he had the esteem of his and those who had come to Comelico with a spirit of adventure or mission), inside the deep pit, with the spirit prepared at the last hour, he thought of that good a man who arrived in Comelico some time ago, proclaimed himself a missionary of Christ. The episodes of the Bible that he recounted, in particular the prophets and martyrs who, among many corruptions and in spite of atrocious sufferings, were able to remain pure and fearful of the golden God, had remained deeply impressed on him. Therefore, finding himself in a pit, he remembered Daniel, thrown in that of the lions by King Darius, who suffered so much spiritual power in a Jew. He addressed his outburst to God: “Let me get out of here and I promise you, like Daniel, the dedication of my people in Your spirit”. A voice deep inside replied: “follow the light of the sun, but never be weak in heart”. Suddenly the storm clouds thickened and dumped a huge amount of water over the entire valley. Towards dawn the Piave was in full and the water overflowed into the pit. On a log stuck inside Rinaldo he came out, he barely gained the coast to the north and in a tabià he found refuge. When the sun reappeared, massacres caused by the barbarians and the flood everywhere; fled the vandals at the first signs of the storm, collected the survivors, Rinaldo followed with his people “the light of the sun”. He climbed the steep meadow north of his village and called it Costa del Saroio (hence the current village of Costalissoio 
) and continued into the woods to its top. By now it was almost sunset and the sun’s rays were turning east. Rinaldo said to himself: “Gno vò?” (where do I go? Hence the present name of Mount Zovo: from Gno-vo to Zovo 
the transition is easy). With his eyes he followed the last rays, always mindful of the “Follow the light of the sun” and saw, beyond the deep valley to the east of the mountain on which it had risen, a rocky spire; at the end of it, on the edge of an fertile valley, a “finger of rock“. That seemed to him a sign to show him the way forward. He came to the “Finger” in the evening and called that spire “Monte San Daniele” 
in honor of the Saint (the name of the mountain is still San Daniele and his “finger” is always there). The next day, having gathered his, Rinaldo decided to settle in the underlying Val Visdende 
(rich in woods, waters and game) and to remain there until the hordes of barbarians no longer entered Comelico along the Val Piave and Val Padola. Val Visdende also lent itself well to defense, surrounded as it is all around by high mountains. In the flat part they obtained (cutting rectangles of wood) fields and meadows (Pra della Fratta 
, Pra Marino 
, Costa d’Antola 
, Piè della Costa 
) and raised pets. The wagons were placed, with sledges, in caves and deposits in the southern part of the valley (Monte Carro 
);from another mountain (Monte Ferro 
) they made iron for their tools and weapons; from another to the far east, which they called Per-alba 
– white rock – they took the marble for the palace and also near the copper. The sentries are placed all around the valley (Col della Varda – Varda: Look 
), especially on the hill overlooking the Zovo Pass 
, where they entered Visdende (see the current “Col della Sentinella” 
), Rinaldo chose the “meeting place of the people” and called it as the Romans “Curia Comelicorum” (today remained “Monte Curiè” 
). Given the orders and prayed to God, they went up to the top to look down on their abandoned villages or still occupied by other hordes of passage, down there along the Piave. On the then highest mountain, in the central south of the valley, the Comelices built the palace at Rinaldo, and in a large boulder they carved a “stone throne”. That mountain, named after their leader, was called Monte Rinaldo 
; to embellish the palace they cultivated the side with gardens of rhododendrons, red and gentian lilies and gardens of strawberries, blueberries and raspberries (still today “Pala degli Orti“
). From the top of Mount Rinaldo dominated not only its valley, but also those nearby from which marauders could penetrate. Only twice did they attempt to penetrate it. A first time from the east, going up from Cima Sappada: warned by the furious barking of dogs at the head of the valley (“Col del Cane-va” 
) the soldiers on guard, put most of them to flight, captured some of them. They tied them two by two by the back and, without doing any harm to them, they made them descend that way to Cima Sappada; to walk, they had to be seated (in Latin sessis) and since then that valley was called “Val Sesis” 
. The second raid occurred from the north, from the pass to the east of the Monte dei Colombi wild (in Latin palumbinus – today Palombino 
) and, since the rejection of those robbers was the work of the soldiers of Col Caneva, Rinaldo gave them the forests of that mountain, judging them “worthy” of their exploits (today “Passo Dignas 
” and “Valle Dignas“). Then years of peace and tranquility followed. Rinaldo, from the top of his palace, looking south, to a mountain beyond the Piave (Terza Piccola 
), he saw something shine: intrigued, he also regarded the following night, more and more amazed by the strange glitters. The third night, without saying anything to anyone, he went down steep cliffs and through a narrow and wild valley to the Piave, passed it and climbed the shining mountain. He noticed that those flashes were silver stones (under the Terza Piccola there is a silver mine today). He collected as many stones as he could and hid them in a cave in the Valle del Rinaldo. And so he did for many nights. During the day he slept tired and no longer cared for the duties of his state. His subjects tried to interrogate him, but he kept silent and waited for the moonlit nights to descend to the mine and fill the cave with his treasure. Until a guard saw him go out and followed him: he discovered his secret and told the people gathered in the Curia. At the same time, an enormous shudder shook the palace and another, until the top of the mountain collapsed with a huge fracture (“Monte Franza” 
) of spikes, bell towers and boulders (“Val Popera” 
);the Stone Throne rolled on the opposite side and can still be seen in the upper Val Rinaldo 
. Of the top of the mountain there remained “Three fingers” (which can still be seen very well today from Piè della Costa), three fingers of rock – the Three fingers of God – to indicate His goodness (in freeing Rinaldo from the pit), His wisdom (in showing him the way: “follow the light of the sun”) and His justice (in punishing him: “but never be weak in heart”) 
. The comelicesi thus called the place where he found the silver: “Cor-weak” and this is still called “Cordevole” 
.
Story taken from: “The Comelico Ring, Alpine Itinerary Nr. 18 written by Italo de Candido for Tamari Editore in Bologna 1974.
