Calalzo, known as "Calaucio" in an ancient parchment, was part of the Hundred of
Pieve di Cadore, seat of the Magnifica Comunità di Cadore. Its history and economy are closely linked to the fortunes of this territory. Administrative documents in the municipal archive also show contracts for use (lease activities through "consortia") of lands owned by other municipalities even far from neighboring territories. For example, the purchase of forests and pastures in Ajarnola and Selvapiana in the municipality of
Comelico Superiore. Since 1420, with the annexation of
Cadore to Venice, the timber trade, through floating, was the main industry of the Cadore villages. With the fall of the
Republic of Venice in 1797 and the dominion of France first, Austria later, also due to competition from countries within the
Austro-Hungarian Empire, this activity underwent a decline that continued even after the annexation of Cadore to the
Kingdom of Italy. Then began the phenomenon of
emigration in Cadore. There was, however, an event that would revolutionize the economy of this land over time when the eyewear industry began in Calalzo in 1877 by the brothers Angelo and Leone Frescura and Giovanni Lozza, natives of the hamlet of Rizzios. Calalzo di Cadore was also the birthplace of the novelist
Pacifico Fiori, born in the municipality in 1898. In the municipal library Enrico De Lotto, Inaugurated in 1986 in the presence of
Mario Rigoni Stern, equipped with 20,000 volumes, parchment containing arbitrations, purchases, transactions, and awards dating back to the fourteenth century are preserved, along with other valuable documents. Two precious donations have found hospitality there: the entire library belonging to Enrico Pappacena, a professor of history of religions at the
University of Bari, and numerous works, manuscripts, and documents of illustrious Calalzo residents. == Geography ==