Santissima and resurgence waters

The source of the Livenza, at Santissima, is fed by the waters that flow out straight from the limestone rocks of the Cansiglio Prealps. The amount of water is such that the Livenza is soon deep enough to be navigable. Legend has it that near the spring the Holy Trinity appeared to Emperor Teodosio in 473 AD; to remember the event devotees erected a small shrine that soon became a place to go to on pilgrimage to prey for god’s favours and perform fertility rites.

A few meters from the spring rises the Holy Trinity Church, rebuilt and enlarged in the XVI century. A lovely arched portico leads into the nave which houses a few well-preserved works of art such as the superb wooden icon representing The Holy Trinity by Domenico da Tolmezzo (1494) and excellent 16th and 17th century frescos and paintings.

From a naturalistic point of view, worth mentioning are also the pools of resurgent water, olle di risorgiva, that can be seen at Fontaniva where the waters that flow underground find a way out creating a suggestive landscape of pools and little ponds scattered amongst the vegetation.