A marvel of rock and spectacular views
A magical place to protect and enhance at 360°
An impressive mountain range, with peaks more than 200 million years old. Once a giant coral reef in the primordial ocean, today the Dolomites tower 3,000 metres into the sky. But it’s not just the origins of the Italian mountains - declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2009 - that are impressive, but also the unique way the ski resorts have developed into the internationally renowned Dolomiti Superski region.
The most beautiful natural architecture in the world
Arch. Le Corbusier, 1887-1965
What exactly is a UNESCO world heritage site?
UNESCO has been creating World Heritage Sites since 1978, with some of the main criteria being globally important uniqueness, authenticity and integrity. Sites are put forward for the title by the respective countries. From the initial 12 World Heritage Sites, in 2018 they totalled 2,000, in more than 150 countries. A unique development of which the Dolomites is a small, but perfectly formed, part.
Why Dolomites? Did you know that the mountains were named after French geologist, Déodat de Dolomieu (1750–1801), who performed the first mineral and chemical analyses of the rocks in this special place.
The Dolomites
Beautiful Italian mountains that deserve to be protected
Sublime, monumental, colourful landscapes as far as the eye can see. Sheer rock faces, dramatic bleached pinnacles and narrow valleys - the unique panorama of unusual shapes that make up the natural beauty of the Dolomites and that has fascinated travellers, artists and scientists since time immemorial. By the way, the World Heritage site’s nine subareas cover five Italian provinces, so the UNESCO Dolomites Foundation was established to facilitate more effective cooperation.
Not only mountains...
The Dolomites - of international scientific importance
Not only are the Dolomites, located in the provinces of South Tyrol, Belluno and Trentino extraordinarily beautiful, they are also of outstanding scientific importance. UNESCO emphasises the mountains’ international significance in the field of Geo-sciences, with the overriding reason being the high concentration of varieties of limestone. It’s hardly surprising that scientists felt at home in what is now the Dolomiti Superski region long before anyone had ever thought of skiing...
More than a century of skiing tradition
What started more than a century ago, with individual daredevils on wooden planks, has since developed into one of Italy’s most important ski regions. Tourists started to visit the Dolomites and skiing developed as a sport here around the start of the twentieth century. Founding of the Cortina d’Ampezzo ski club in 1903 and the first ski races on Alpe di Siusi two years later were the first moves in the right direction.
