Italy's famed Alpine resort Cortina d'Ampezzo is eyeing a northwards break to boost its tourist trade.
The elite spot, known as the Pearl of the Dolomites, has decided to vote whether to break away from the Veneto region to the east and join the Alto Adige (South Tyrol) region to the north.
The referendum has been promoted by a local ethnic community that speaks an ancient Romance language called Ladin ('ladino' in Italian).
Most of the other Ladin speakers are across the border in Alto Adige (which otherwise is largely German-speaking).
"So this move isn't a separation from Veneto at all but a reunification for our minority," Sirio Bigontina of the Unione Ladini d'Ampezzo said Wednesday, a day after Italy's high court set the referendum for October 28.
Most observers, however, see economic reasons behind the proposed switch.
Ever since it was set up as a self-governing region after the war, Alto Adige has enjoyed a high level of administrative autonomy and tax breaks.
It has more money to spend on public services and the efficiency of its civil service contrasts with that of other parts of Italy.
Mountain-climbing legend Lino Lacedelli is one prominent resident of the championship skiing resort who can't wait to "join the Austrians".
"They're more serious up there, more can-do. All you get in Veneto is red tape and nay-sayers," he said, recalling a recent "bureaucratic nightmare" to get one of Cortina's main ski-lifts overhauled.
But Alberta Marzotto of the famed textile dynasty, one of the many well-heeled residents who make Cortina a salon for Italy's business elite, responded: "Ingrates! The Ampezzo crowd have had too much from Veneto, and now they just want even more".
Many of the monied and aristocratic families who give Cortina its high tone see the proposed breakaway as a money-grubbing scheme that will spoil the place and lower its appeal for the 'right' kind of visitor.
Speaking for many, Rosanna Puri Purini, wife of Italy's ambassador to Germany, said: "The people who want to join Alto Adige are thinking of massive tourist projects that would change the face of the resort.
"Cortina is right just the way it is: old-fashioned," she said.
The referendum will be one of the major talking points among the rich, famous but discreet visitors who head for their Cortina hideaways this summer, fleeing the steamy city heat.
For the moment there have been no polls indicating which way the 'Ampezzani' will decide come October.
But one thing is sure: the Veneto is already seething.
"Absurdity and madness!" muttered the governor of the region around Venice, Giancarlo Galan.
