A view on the Latemar, Catinaccio and Sciliar mountain ranges

POI

A view on the Latemar, Catinaccio and Sciliar mountain ranges

Look around - in 2009 UNESCO listed the Dolomites as a World Heritage Site for the aesthetic value of its landscape and for the scientific importance of its geology and geomorphology.

From your standpoint - looking backwards, opposite to the direction the Info Point footpath continues - you should be able to see in the distance the two rocky ramparts of the Catinaccio and Sciliar and of the Latemar mountain group.

The Dolomites are not a seamless range of peaks, but rather nine different mountain systems separated by valleys, rivers and other mountain groups. The 142 thousand hectares that make up the UNESCO asset are shaped like a sort of archipelago, a group of islands distributed over a much larger Alpine area. Sciliar, Catinaccio and Latemar belong to the System 7 of the Dolomites World Heritage Site. Shared between the provinces of Trento and Bolzano, System 7 is particularly interesting for its variety of rocks and shapes. As you can see, within just a few kilometres the Sciliar plateau is followed by the imposing and jagged wall of the Catinaccio and the unmistakable Latemar massif, characterised by small peaks and steep slopes.

Let’s turn around now and continue on the footpath. Enjoy!

Extra

The “Enrosadira”

Extra

The “Enrosadira”

What colour are the Dolomites? It depends on the time of the day…

As a matter of fact, when the sun shines the rocks that form the Dolomites look “pale”, but at dawn and sunset they light up with colours like gold, pink, red, orange and purple!

This natural occurrence is called Enrosadira, and legend has it that it is the roses inKing Laurin’s garden, the king of the dwarfs who used to live on the Catinaccio, to give the mountain those unexpected colours. It seems that Laurin kidnapped the princess he had fallen in love with, and he then hid in his garden. Despite his magical weapons, it was precisely the roses’ movement to betray his presence, and to get him caught.

For this reason, Laurin casted a curse to his beloved roses, and turned them into stone, so neither by day nor by night any human eye would have admired them anymore.

But in his spell the dwarf had forgotten about dawn and sunset! This is why, looking at the Dolomites in those times of the day, you can see again, for a fleeting moment,the roses of that enchanted garden.

Extra

Do you know King Laurin’s legend?

Extra

Do you know King Laurin’s legend?

Once upon a time there was a people of dwarfs living in South Tyrol, on the Catinaccio massif. Their king was called Laurin. One day he fell desperately in love with a Princess called Similda. The Princess didn’t want to have anything to do with the King of Dwarfs, who then got her kidnapped and locked up in a rose garden!

After seven years Teodorico, Similda’s brother, managed to free his sister.

This time around it was Laurin to be taken prisoner! In the end he managed to escape, but he was very angry: “It’s those roses’ fault”, he mumbled, “if Teodorico hadn’t seen them, he would have never found the hideout.”

For this reason, Laurin casted a curse to his beloved roses, and turned them into stone. Neither by day nor by night any human eye wouldhave admired them anymore.

But the dwarf in his spell had forgotten about dawn and sunset! This is why, looking at the Dolomites in those times of the day, you can see again, for a fleeting moment, the red roses of that enchanted garden.