Experience the drama of the Dolomites
These hills are alive with history
Located in northeastern Italy, the Dolomites have been called the most beautiful mountains on Earth, and certainly they are among the most dramatic. They offer some of the best alpine thrills in Europe, whether you want to stay planted on the ground or soar high above the valley floor.
The mountains differ from the rest of the Alps because of their dominant rock type — dolomite — which forms sheer vertical walls of white, grey and pink rising abruptly from green valleys and meadows.
It’s here you’ll find Europe’s largest alpine meadow — Alpe di Siusi. The huge meadow — 4.8 kilometres long by 11.3 km wide — seems to float at 1,829 metres. It’s dotted by farm huts and wild flowers, surrounded by soaring peaks, and criss-crossed by meadow trails — ideal for flower lovers, walkers, and equestrians. For a good home base, try the nearby village of Castelrotto, which offers accommodations and restaurants with Tyrolean flair.
Because the Alpe di Siusi is a popular winter destination for skiers, chairlifts are everywhere — providing springboards for dramatic summer hikes or bike rides. Mountain bikes are easy to rent, welcome on many lifts, and permitted on the meadow’s country lanes.
While the Dolomites are peaceful now, during the First World War the front line between the Italian and Austrian forces ran through these mountains, and many paths were cut into the range for military use.
Today, mountaineers can follow a network of metal rungs, cables, and ladders — what Italians call a via ferrata. One famous wartime trail is the Strada delle Gallerie (Road of Tunnels), which passes through 52 tunnels.
Those battles are part of a hard-fought history that has left the region bicultural and bilingual. For many centuries it was part of Austria. But after its First World War defeat, Austria lost this land, and “Sudtirol” became “Alto Adige.” Many locals still feel a closer bond with their Germanic ancestors than with their Italian countrymen. Most have a working knowledge of Italian, but they watch German-language TV, read newspapers auf Deutsch, and live in Tyrolean-looking villages. Overall, seven in 10 Italians living in the South Tyrol speak German as their mother tongue.
The main city of the region — Bolzano (or “Bozen” to its German-speaking residents) — exemplifies this split personality: If it weren’t so sunny, you could be in Innsbruck. This arcaded old town of 100,000 is worth a Tyrolean stroll. The main square, Piazza Walther, is the town’s living room.
Bolzano’s top attraction is a 5,300-year-old man named Ötzi. This frozen “Ice Man” was discovered in the mountains on the Italian / Austrian border in 1991. Police initially believed the corpse was a lost hiker, and Ötzi was chopped roughly out of the glacier, damaging his left side. But upon discovering his copper-bladed hatchet, officials realized they had found a nearly perfectly preserved Stone Age hunter. Later, researchers pinned down the cause of his death — an arrowhead buried in Ötzi’s left shoulder that led to bleeding and a quick end.
Austria and Italy squabbled briefly over who would get him. Tooth enamel studies have now shown that he grew up on the Italian side, so it’s only fair that Bolzano’s South Tyrol Museum of Archaeology is Ötzi’s final resting place (www.iceman.it).
The museum recounts the evolution of humanity — from the Paleolithic era to the Roman period and finally to the Middle Ages. The exhibit offers informative displays and models, video demonstrations of Ötzi’s extraction, and his personal effects. You’ll see Ötzi himself — still frozen — as well as an artist’s reconstruction of what he looked like when alive.
Also in Bolzano, you can take a quick, easy cable-car ride over the countryside to the touristy resort village of Oberbozen, where Sigmund Freud and his wife once celebrated their wedding anniversary. The reasonably priced, 12-minute ride offers views of the town, made-foryodelling farmsteads, and distant views of the Dolomites. But if you want to hike among real mountains, linger in the Alpe di Siusi instead.
Whether you experience the Dolomites with your hand on a walking stick, a ski pole, or an aperitivo while mountaingazing from a café, it’s easy to enjoy this Germanic eddy in the whirlpool of Italy.