Dolomites

The pale mountains. According to the architect Le Corbusier the Dolomites are the world’s finest example of natural architecture.

The characteristic rock of the Dolomites consists of fossilised coral reefs formed during the Triassic Period (around 250 million years ago) by organisms and sedimentary matter at the bottom of the ancient tropical Tethys Ocean. The Alps arose as a result of the collision of the African and European tectonic plates, forcing the rocks at the point of impact to soar skyward. The western part of the Tethys Ocean which formerly divided these two continents disappeared. The Dolomites now stand proud and distinct from the other limestone Alps. In 1788 the French geologist Deodat de Dolomieu (after whom the mountains are named) discovered the properties of this rock, which he realised was a type of mineral comprising calcium magnesium carbonate found in varying proportions in the whitish-grey sedimentary limestone rock of the Dolomite mountains. They soon became popular, postcards of the Drei Zinnen were sent around the world and in the early 20th century the actor and film producer Luis Trenker immortalised the Sasso Lungo/Langkofel.

The Dolomites have been inhabited since the Iron Age. The Rhaetians, Romans and Lombards all left their mark. Italy joined the Allies during the First World War, after which the mountain front ran through the Dolomites from May 1915 to November 1917 with Austrians on one side and Italians on the other. The oldest permanent settlers are the Ladin people whose vernacular is South Tyrol’s third official language. In 2009 the Dolomites were included in the Unesco list of landscapes deemed especially worthy of protection. Along with the Jungfrau-Aletsch-Bietschhorn and Monte San Giorgio in Switzerland, the pale mountains have become the third natural heritage site in the Alps.