Due to the isolation of the past, Val Gardena has its own language, Ladin, which is a Rhaeto-Romanic language which developed from vulgar Latin and the traces of the regional language after the Roman domination of the area.
Ladin in the past has been mistakenly regarded as a dialect. Today Ladin is considered as the third official language of South Tyrol together with Italian and German, and is taught in schools as a compulsory school subject, in order not to be forgotten. Ladin people, which are the smallest ethnic group in South Tyrol with about the 4% of the population, firmly maintained their roots and handed down from one generation to another the Rhaetian language through the oral tradition. Moreover the language is promoted through various publications and radio and television broadcasts. Today Ladin is seriously threatened by the use of foreign words. However it has been shown that in the majority of the population still lives the ability to perceive, think and feel as a Ladin.
