A multi-year feud over ruined gardens, biting sheepdogs, and unpaid fines in the Italian Alps has culminated in a legal standoff that brings attention to the tricky balance between traditional pastoral life and modern community boundaries. it started off as a local dispute in Val di Zoldo, but has now escalated into a regional logistical task: ensuring a shepherd, his dogs, and a 400-strong flock clear out of the area without just passing baton of the problem along to the next valley.
Shepherd banned from Val di Zoldo for four years
Luciano Varago, 66, has been ordered by Belluno police headquarters to leave Val di Zoldo, in the northern Italian province of Belluno, and is reportedly barred from returning to the area for four years.
Varago, originally from Farra di Soligo, has travelled with his flock through forests and mountain pastures across the Belluno area for years. Local reports say his presence in Val di Goima has caused repeated friction with residents for more than two years, ranging from unauthorised grazing on private land to sheep entering residential gardens and causing damage.
Residents have also reported incidents involving Varago’s sheepdogs, including allegations that dogs had bitten people. Local authorities previously ordered the seizure of ten dogs considered dangerous, but officers were able to seize only one because the other nine were moved before police arrived.
Hundreds of sheep now have to move
Mayor De Pellegrin has given Varago until Sunday to move his flock, granting him temporary permission to return with the dogs needed to manage the transfer.
Local station Radio Piu has said that Varago expects to reach the Duran area by Sunday evening. His flock—numbering around 400 sheep, goats, and lambs—normally travels towards Valbelluna for the winter anyway, particularly around Sedico and Sospirolo.
Authorities are taking the move seriously, it has brought together mayors, police, health officials, and veterinary services to coordinate the flock’s trek towards Valbelluna. Concerns centre not only on managing such a large herd along public routes, but also on keeping track of the shepherd’s dogs and preventing similar disputes from developing elsewhere.
Italian mountain communities face an unusual dilemma
Varago’s case has drawn attention to an awkward legal limitation for local authorities: issuing fines or banning grazing does not automatically give a local council the authority to remove a shepherd or his livestock.
De Pellegrin stated that numerous penalties had already been issued to Varago, but claimed they remained unpaid, and health authorities found insufficient grounds to classify the situation as animal mistreatment.
For residents of Val di Zoldo, the four-year exclusion order could finally bring relief after years of complaints. Neighbouring communities, however, may now be watching the flock’s journey with considerably more interest than usual.