In the northernmost region of the Ampezzo valley the grazing of pastures at higher elevations was already practised in days of old. Place names such a Gotres, Antruiles, Lerosa suggest a Celtic presence, but the existence of permanent settlements has never been proved: the shepherds would come and go with the cycle of the seasons.
In times past the present territory of the Park was divided for the exploitation of pasture lands between the Regola of Larieto (Cortina) and the Regola of Vinigo; the latter being a locality some twenty kilometres to the south of Ampezzo in the Cadore valley. Vinigo was entitled to the pastures of Gotres, Lerosa, Felizon and valley of Travenanzes, whose mouth was appropriately named "Bridge of the Cadoris", namely "people from Cadore".
In 1412 at Cimabanche, as a result of a skirmish between the Cadorini and troops of the powerful Duke of Austria, a group of men from Vinigo was captured by the Austrians, who demanded a ransom of 500 gold ducats to set them free. Vinigo did not own the sum, which was paid by the Regola of Larieto in exchange for grazing rights on the above pastures. The whole territory has belonged to Cortina ever since.
The national road, which runs through the park district and connects the Boite with the Pusteria valley, has provided access to the north of the country from time immemorial. In days of old the road climbed the valley as far as the bridge spanning the Rio Felizon; then it continued, winding its way up the steep mountainside to the overhanging stronghold of Podestagno, to resume a more level course in the direction of Dobbiaco. Little farther on, it went past the hospice of Ospitale opposite which, in 1226, the Ampezzo community built the little church of St Nicolò, protector of travellers. Still extant and recently restored, the church is the most ancient historical monument in Ampezzo.
Travel on the road leading to Tyrol has always been closely connected with the castle at Podestagno, the hospice and the church at Ospitale: the first for its crucial location overlooking the access road, the other two as places of relief and devotion for wayfarers.
The castle of Podestagno, presumably built in the 11th century, was occupied in turn by the captains of the bishopric of Aquileia till 1420 and of the Republic of Venice till 1511, by the lieutenants of the Austrian House of Hapsburg till the end of 1700. It was for centuries a strategic bulwark standing guard over the narrows of the Boite and the gorge of the Felizon to the north of Cortina, a symbol of political power to the inhabitants of Ampezzo. On top of the craggy rise nothing remains nowadays of the many a time patched up or renovated stonework of the castle, but some dilapidated ruins of the ancient foundations. Starting 1200, when the road became the shortest route between Venice and Germany, the to and fro of goods and people between the harbour city on the Adriatic sea and the northern countries grew steadily until the early 18th century. With the construction of the free port of Triest most of the commercial traffic progressively abandoned the old road, which soon went to rack and ruin especially along the dizzy hairpin bends below the castle.
The community of Ampezzo had a new more comfortable road built in 1762 which from Ru dei Cavai, the site of the stone quarry opened in 1759 for the construction of the parish church, climbed the more gentle slope to the meadow behind the castle.. After the Napoleonic Wars the Austrian government resolved it was high time that Dobbiaco and Conegliano, namely South Tyrol and Veneto, should be more efficiently connected.
The new road, called “Alemagna”, was completed in 1831 and stretches of it have become part of the present national road. The outbreak of the first World War in 1915 brought in its wake dramatic changes in the rustic life of the Regolieri. That same year the military command at Bressanone / Brixen ordered the hasty construction of a defensive line running east to west through the grounds of the future natural Park: from Cimabanche through Gotres, Son Pouses, Progoito, Travenanzes to the Lagazuoi. The Austrians were positioned on the north sides of Forame and Tofana. The two years of harsh fighting took a heavy toll of men and in some places irretrievably changed the face of the mountain and wooded landscape. It took years to remove the scraps and shreds and remnants of the conflict, but the old wounds are still visible throughout the battle zone where tunnels, trenches and barbed wire bear witness to that dramatic event.