1. Water and its Inhabitants

2. The Fauna At the beginning of its course, the river Piave hosts various species of predatory fishes which eat organic substances.

3. La trota marmorata Only good swimmer fishes can adapt to strong stream. Trouts, for example, have an hydrodynamic body.

4. La trota fario

5. Lo scazzone We can also find fishes with a flat body, hiding on the bottom of the river.

6. The Flora In the upper course of the river Piave there are only few species of plants: in fact the environment is not suitable for rooted plants and only simple organisms can survive

7. The microscopic algae

8. Mythical inhabitants: The ANGUANE fairies

9. Anguane are said to inhabit the caves near springs, rivers and pools of water among the Dolomites, in the province of Belluno.

10. For three days a week these fairies look like beautiful young girls, with blond or red hair, but also with animal features such as goat feet or fish tails. They go out at moonlight, love music and dance. Though usually kind, keen on and grateful for men’s favours, sometimes they become also very vindictive, wicked and deceitful.

11. There is a popular tale about the meeting of a man and an anguana. The Anguana

12. Once upon a time there was a young man by the name of Marius, living on the banks of the river Piave. He would earn his living taking people on his small boat and shuttling from one side to the other of the river. One night, while he was going to sleep, he was visited by an odd person who offered him a large amount of money to be carried. At first Marius refused, but finally he made up his mind and set off on that dangerous way. While he was rowing, the unknown person (who was a bandit, indeed) stole the young man his bag and threw him into the water.

13. Marius couldn’t swim and was desperately fighting not to drown, as he was grasped by a hand and dragged unconscious onto the bank of the river. He was woken up into a cave by a sweet melody sung by a beautiful girl: an anguana. When she realized that he was awake, she kissed him and they fell in love. When Marius asked her to marry him she agreed, provided that he would never follow her, had she expressed the desire to visit her family.

14. Marius agreed and they got married. They had many children and lived happily together for a long time, but one day he decided to follow his wife while she was going to her parents. When the girl realized that, she became very angry and left her husband and their kids. Marius was inconsolable: life had become an unbearable burden to him. One day he came back to the place where, many years before, he had first met his beloved wife and threw himself into the river, determined to die, but once again his wife grasped and rescued him! From that day on they always lived together!

15. The legends of the anguane lasted until the Sixties. Nowadays nobody believes that such women live in the area of Belluno. These stories were probably invented to keep away the thieves from the caves where people would store their food supplies, mostly cheese and meat.