Dolomites

Regions: Trentino-Alto Adige and Veneto

Provinces: Bolzano (BZ), Trento (TN) and Belluno (BL)

Situation and importance

The Dolomites are a range of mountains in the eastern part of the Alps, situated in northern Italy, actually in the Alto Adige - east of Bolzano and Trento. The magnificent range of mountains called the Dolomites after the French geologist Dieudonneà (or Deàodat) Dolomieu (1750-1801) is one of the most beautiful and most visited parts of the Alps. Taken in its widest sense, the range is bounded by the rivers Isarco, Adige, Brenta, Piave and Rienza. Scattered among the mountains are beautiful little lakes, including the Lago di Braies, Lago di Carezza, Lago di Misurina, Lago di Landria and Lago d'Aàlleghe. Alpine glow

The famous Alpine glow, bathing the Alps in the flaming red of the setting sun, is particularly beautiful in the Dolomites. The real Alpine glow, when the rock faces and snowfields are clad in brilliant hues of yellow, purple and red, occurs only very rarely, and then only for five to ten minutes after sunset, when there is a light haze in the west and dusk has already fallen in the valleys.

Flora

The natural flora of the Dolomites is of Alpine character. The valley floors and gentler slopes are mostly covered with arable land and pasture, while the steeper slopes, up to 2,200m/7,260ft, are wooded - mostly with conifers but in the southern Dolomites also deciduous trees. Above the tree level are great expanses of upland meadows spangled with Alpine flowers.

Population

The Isarco valley and its side valleys and the Val Pusteria were settled from the sixth century onwards by German-speaking Bajuwari (Bavarians), while at the same time Italians advanced into the region from the south. The Rhaetians, speaking a Romance language and now known as Ladins, withdrew into the inner valleys of the Dolomites, and are now mainly found in the Val Gardena and Val Gadera. There are newspapers and magazines in the Ladin language which is derived from Latin. The Ladins are noted for their fine wood-carving, particularly in the Val Gardena.

Legends

Legends of giants and dwarfs, witches and ghosts, princes and heroes have grown up in the Dolomite area, most of them originating from the Ladin region.