The Dolomites: like nowhere else and magnificent
By Jane Johnston
‘They arrest the attention by the singularity and picturesqueness of their forms, by their sharp peaks or horns, sometimes rising up in pinnacles and obelisks, at others extending in serrated ridges, teethed like the jaws of an alligator’
That timeless description is from the 1837 A Handbook for Travellers in Southern Germany, published in London by John Murray and Son. It was included in The Dolomite Mountains, an 1864 book by the English painter Josiah Gilbert and the English naturalist George Cheetham Churchill that helped to establish the mountains as an international travel destination (two images from which are below).
Gilbert and Churchill were among the great ‘discoverers’ of the Dolomites in travels there with their wives in the 1850s and 1860s. When international tourism gained momentum in the mid-nineteenth century, it was mountaineers, scientists and artists captivated by the jagged peaks who led the way, inspiring other travellers to follow.
Leisure tourism flourished from the late nineteenth century, after the Brenner Railway line from Innsbruck to Bolzano/Bozen opened in 1867, connecting the area with central Europe to the north, in turn leading to more roads into the valleys and more and better tourist accommodation.
Tourists, initially mostly British, came to be amid the spectacular landscape, with its soaring craggy spires and vast range of appearances and moods, varying with the season and weather. And while improved accessibility took away some of the air of mystery that had formerly enveloped these mountains, it brought something else: the glamour of international resorts. Cortina d’Ampezzo became especially famous in this regard.
So many writers and artists have visited the Dolomites that they are well documented over time, pictorially and in writing. UNESCO commented on this when inscribing the Dolomites to the World Heritage List in 2009, noting ‘the beauty and uniqueness of their landscape and their geological and geomorphological importance’.
UNESCO’s listing of the Dolomites comprises nine different areas, located across the the Trentino-Alto Adige autonomous region, and the Veneto and Friuli-Venezia-Giulia regions. They total around 141,900 hectares, encompassing 18 peaks that are 3000m above sea level, as well as the interspersed valleys and encircling buffer zones. UNESCO’s listing details why the Dolomites are so remarkable and important. One of their reasons is that the superbly exposed rock faces provide highly significant insight into geological history, both locally and globally. Their geological origins are a must-know for travellers.
Volcanism that started in the area in the late Permian period dropped the level of the land, resulting in the nearby sea, Tethys, inundating the area around 250 million years ago. By the early Triassic period, a shallow tropical sea with coral reefs had formed – imagine a scene like today’s Bahamas or Maldives. Volcanism continued, as did an overall lowering of the sea floor. The living coral organisms had an imperative to build the reefs ever upwards, to maintain a depth from the water surface that was conducive for life. The Dolomite mountains are those same Triassic-age coral reefs, after a long and astonishing transformation.
Any mountain formed from a coral reef is made of limestone (calcium carbonate). However, the Dolomites are special: in 1789, a French geologist named Deodat de Dolomieu sampled the rock and noted it as like limestone, except with no appreciable effervescence when acid was applied. His sample was assessed as a magnesium-rich variant of limestone – a calcium magnesium carbonate, named dolomite in his honour in the 1790s.
This magnesium richness is why the Dolomites appear rosy at dawn and sunset. Yellows, reds and violets are sometimes visible too, in this magnificent phenomenon that goes by the Ladin language name Enrosadira, meaning to ‘turn rosy’. It varies with time of year and atmospheric conditions and is more obvious in some parts of the Dolomites more than others. A place that’s especially famed for it is the Catinaccio/Rosengarten Group in the Fassa/Fassatal Valley.
In daylight, the rock usually appears a creamy light grey colour. But it’s how the mountains look at night, reflecting the moonlight and seeming to shine, that’s the basis of their historic name, ‘Monti Pallidi’ in Italian – the Pale Mountains.
Close observation of the rocks can be fascinating. One reason why is that marine life fossils are present in remarkable quantity and variety, with UNESCO noting the Dolomites as one of the world’s best places to see and understand Mesozoic-age carbonate platform systems. These fossils have been much studied since 1860, when the German geologist and geographer Baron Ferdinand von Richthofen first proposed the coral reef origins of the Dolomites.
All that has geologically happened to the Dolomites since they were living coral reefs has shaped their appearance, but special mention for dramatic effect goes to the glaciers. They’ve carved U-shaped valleys through the landscape as they’ve moved slowly across it, over millions of years.
Of only a small number of glaciers still there, the Marmolada Principle is the biggest and best known. It’s now melting at an accelerated rate and may vanish by 2040. It’s a potential outcome that’s discussed as emblematic of the results of climate change on Alpine environments.
Meanwhile, the erosive forces of wind, rain and snow combine with gravity to continuously sculpt the Dolomites. The changes are usually too slow to be perceptible, but dramatic events like landslides, avalanches and floods are reminders of the ongoing geological dynamism.
Erosion is creating fabulous looking effects, and it’s worth remembering that dolomite (like any limestone) is particularly susceptible to erosion by running water. Carbon dioxide dissolved in water reacts with the rock, preferentially dissolving it in the relative lows where water most often runs and pools.
It’s a type of erosion called karstification, and one effect is a distinct grooving in rock faces called karren. Another is a curious lack of water running over the outer surfaces of the mountains, for some of the water instead runs down inside the mountain, via spaces created by karstification. One result of this is streams that seem to ‘magically’ begin near a mountain base, often as waterfalls.
Great spills of fallen rock skirt every mountain. These contribute to the immense spectacle of the Dolomites, not least for the striking colour contrasts at the curving edges, where rock material adjoins the strong greens of meadows or forests.
But for exceptional colour, some of the lakes in the valleys and plateaus are unbeatable, appearing in striking shades of green or blue. Thank the fine rock powder called glacial flour that’s present in the water for these extraordinary optics.
With a combination of visuals that are highly unusual, perceptible as eerie, even enchanting, it’s no wonder that a mythology has developed over centuries about the magical and mystical beings who inhabit the Dolomites, witches and dragons included.
The Ladin people of Rhaetian-Roman descent have long lived in these mountains. Their folktales are full of such beings and integrate aspects of the nature of the Dolomites. For instance, one brutal and melancholy story sees the imprisoned and furious king of the dwarves, King Laurin, transform a rose garden in the Catinaccio/Rosengarten Group into rock with a curse, in such a way that the red of the roses was forevermore only visible with the enrosadira.
The nature of the Dolomites has shaped the Ladin culture, powerfully so, but it has influenced other peoples too, including the Venetians. The early Venetians recognised the tall, straight and thick trunks of certain types of mature trees in the Dolomite forests as perfect to make the masts of ships with and build a city with. Thousands of logs were transported by river from forests in the Dolomites to the lagoon of Venice. They were used not only in buildings, but for the very foundations of Venice – a closely packed array of logs, driven into the mud of the lagoon. To walk in Venice is, in a sense, to walk above a forest.
And as the Dolomites form a natural barrier across the landscape, they’ve had strategic value in wartime. These mountains have seen fierce fighting, most recently in the twentieth century. Depending on where you explore, you may encounter remnants of wartime trenches, fortifications and paths, perhaps even the famed ‘via ferrata’, commonly called ‘iron paths’ in English – permanent fixings into the rock with attachments including cabling and ladders.
After thousands of Italian troops fighting against Austro-Hungarian troops in World War I died in the Dolomites from cold exposure, falls and avalanches, Italian soldiers greatly expanded on some climbing fixtures that already existed, thanks to mountaineers, to mobilise with their equipment more speedily and safely. The soldiers’ constructions have since been upgraded. They form part of a network of walking routes across the Dolomites. There are options for all grades of walkers, rifugi for rest and refreshment at scenic points along the way and, in several locations, cable cars that offer easy ascent or descent and bird’s-eye views.
From the air or on-ground, you’ll want binoculars to spot all that you can. Before the Dolomites were listed by UNESCO, they were protected by a patchwork of one national park, the National Park of the Belluno Dolomites, and several regional nature parks and reserves, all containing a rich diversity of flora and fauna.
Considering birds, for a glimpse of that richness: you may see owls, eagles, falcons and goshawks, among other raptors, or some of woodpecker species with their eye-catching patches of bold red. The gallinaceous birds include grouse, partridge and capercaillie, while the corvids include ravens, choughs with striking yellow or red beaks, or the gorgeously multicoloured northern nutcracker.
Fleet-footed ungulates, so emblematic of the Dolomites, are deer, chamois, and the splendidly handsome and more rarely seen ibex and mouflon. Other mammals include lynx, wolves and foxes, hares, and several mustelid species including martens and weasels. And the rodents include a charismatic and social species that has become somewhat of a ‘poster’ animal for the Dolomites – the marmot. These furry creatures live together in extensive underground burrows. Out in the open air, they sunbathe and munch on meadow plants in groups, while a sentinel marmot keeps close watch, ever ready to sound a whistle-like alarm. Perhaps ‘Golden Eagle!’ Perhaps ‘Tourists!’
In the Brenta Dolomites in Trentino, there’s something else remarkable: a brown bear population. A tiny, near-collapse population of Italian brown bears was boosted from 1999 by 10 bears from Slovenia. Their population is now over 100, with results that have occasionally been tragic, for bear and person, sparking important debates about the rewilding of large animals.
Photo credit: Marie Lan Tay Pamart CC4.0
Photo credit: Mai Sachme CC2.0
For wildlife watching, timing matters. The hours around twilight give you the best chance to see many of the species that live here, and season also influences what you’ll see. For instance, marmots typically hibernate from October through to April.
The larch, a deciduous conifer, transitions in autumn from green to yellow to a gorgeous bronze-orange, and October in the Dolomites is renowned for autumn colour. July to September is the most popular time for walking, with June and July especially famed for bloom across the curving high meadows and tumbles of fallen rock.
Among the flowers, you may recognise some from domestic gardens, including blue campanulas, violet gentianellas, yellow primulas and saxafraxias. It’s an eye-opening delight to see them in a natural environment, and the ‘rock cracker’ Latin meaning of saxafraxia will evermore strike a chord after you’ve seen them wedging in among the rocks.
Photo credit: Jane Johnston
Photo credit: Jane Johnson
Depending on where you explore, you may come across cattle, sheep or goats, including grazing on the high meadows. This diet imparts characteristic tastes to the famed dairy products of this area. The parks have zoning for agriculture in several areas, and the sound of cowbells ringing out across the valleys is quintessential Dolomites.
This magnificent place that’s full of the unusual is like nowhere else on earth. It frequently astounds and delights, and richly rewards the observant and the curious. To channel the spirit of Gilbert and Churchill’s 1864 book: go there, be rewarded.