Cortina d'Ampezzo Trentino-Alto Adige announced that they are to commission a feasibility study to build a new line between Calalzo, Cortina and Toblach. Cortina has attracted many distinguished guests, often inspiring them in their creative work. They include the Italian novelists Dino Buzzati (1906–1972), author of "The Tartar Steppe", Goffredo Parise (1929–1986) and Fernanda Pivano (1917–2009). Ernest Hemingway, author of "A Farewell to Arms", also arrived in the area in 1918 as a young ambulance driver. Other notable visitors include John Ball (1818–1889), the Irish mountaineer and naturalist who climbed Monte Pelmo in 1857, the Italian mountaineers Emilio Comici (1901–1940), Angelo Dibona
Franco-Irish Ambulance Brigade Franco-Irish Ambulance Brigade The Franco-Irish Ambulance Brigade (known in French as the Ambulance Irlandais) was a volunteer medical corps sent from Ireland to assist the French Army in the 1870-71 Franco-Prussian War. At the time Ireland was part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and parliament had passed the Foreign Enlistment Act 1870 which, in most circumstances, prohibited British citizens from enlisting in foreign armies. As a non-combatant force the ambulance brigade was not covered by the act. Around 280 men joined the brigade which arrived in France in early October 1870. They served with the French