Italy's Alpine Soul: From Mont Blanc to the Dolomites
Estimated reading time: 13 minutes
It is the collision of the Italian landmass with the rest of the European peninsula over millions of years that has led to the rise of the Alps in the first place. Italy has its share of these and many ranges are shared with neighbouring countries like France, Switzerland, Austria and Slovenia. Abutting the southern foothills of these are several grand lakes that extend from Piemonte through Lombardia to Trentino. As well as sharing mountains with other countries, Italy also has its own home-grown ranges that rejoice under the Dolomites label, with the weird and wonderful shapes that they take after years of formation, uplift and erosion. These extend through Trentino, South Tirol, Veneto and Friuli Venezia Giulia.
One might think that a line of lofty mountains would fix country borders and limit human migration, but you would be wrong in the case of Italy's northern regions. For instance, many places in Valle d'Aosta have a French aspect, having been governed from there in the not too distant past and being overlooked by Mont Blanc anyway. Other areas like South Tirol and Trentino once were part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, so the German language still is heard predominantly in much of these and, taken together with the Austrian Tirol, they are recognised as a cross-border region by the European Union. This largely corresponds to the area covered by the Tirol in former times. The German language incursion does not stop there, for there are Walsers from Switzerland in some valleys near Valle d'Aosta and Piemonte's Ossolo valleys too. After that, there are indigenous cultures such as Ladin and other languages spoken include Friulian, Venezian and Giulian with two of these suitably being limited to Friuli Venezia Giulia and the middle one being understood also in Veneto. Mussolini's Italianisation, which was most prevalent in South Tirol, clearly was far from being completely successful, with some recovery since the end of World War II.
Still, Italian remains the first official language for all of Italy, yet the content of the Italian Tourism also comes in English. Naturally, there is an introduction to the twenty regions of Italy, five of these being autonomous. There also is a parks portal, with the same language options as the main visitor information website, that contains information about the country's protected landscapes. There are various park classifications such as National Parks, Interregional Parks, Regional Parks, Marine Protected Areas, National Nature Reserves, Regional Nature Reserves and Wetlands with the various lists adding up to a serious number of protected landscapes for locals and outsiders to visit and enjoy. It is when you count the number of parks in the Italian Alps that this point really hits you.
More about the Alpine Borderlands
Just like Italy's border, these extend west to east, and we will start with Valle d'Aosta in the west. This is where you will find Parco Nazionale Gran Paradiso (there is an entry on Parks.it as well as a standalone web portal), a former hunting reserve of King Vittorio Emanuele II and King Vittorio Emanuele III. It was the latter who gifted the 2,100 hectares making up the park to the nation in 1920. After its foundation in 1922, the park had mixed fortunes until after World War II, but conservation has improved since then, which just as well for the ibex who live there and have gone on to repopulate other parts of the Alps where they had become extinct due to human overexploitation. As it happens, Gran Paradiso, the mountain after which the park is named, is Italy's country top but would not be so but for a failed claim on nearby Mont Blanc. That proximity tells you of the quality of the countryside around here, and the early designation of national park status saved it from being a skiing destination, too. Nearby, there are places like La Thuile and Cogne from which visits can be based and Aosta is the main town in this alluring region too.
Continuing with the National Parks theme, Piemonte (also known as Piedmont in English) gets one of its own in its Alpine quarters, Parco Nazionale della Val Grande (the park's own website is in Italian alone so you will need its Parks.it entry if you are more fluent in either of English, French or German), and there is a Nature Park too in the form of Parco Naturale Alpi Maritime. The first of these suffered the abandonment of Alpine farming in the area that has allowed the re-wilding that makes it more alluring to visitors today, and it is not so far from the well-known Lago Maggiore (more on that later) either. The Nature Park is the Italian counterpart to the French Parc National du Mercantour and both cover the south-western extremity of the Alpine range, the Maritime Alps. As if these were insufficient, the region also is home to Capo di Ponte, a place noted for its historic rock art from a time in our history predating the development of writing.
Then, there is South Tirol, and it comes under both the German name of Südtirol and its Italian counterpart of Alto Adige. It just depends on whether the destination in question is primarily German or Italian speaking. Thus, seeing a name like Bolzano and Merano tells you that you have an Italian-speaking destination, with Bruneck pointing out a German-speaking populace. In German though, Bolzano becomes Bozen and Merano becomes Meran while Bruneck is Brunico in Italian, so bilingualism is maintained. Incidentally, the name Alto Adige comes about since the region features the upper reaches of the river Adige.
After working out where he lay relative to the current border between Italy and Austria, it was Bolzano's South Tirol Archaeology Museum that got to be the home to Ötzi the Iceman. The 5,000-year-old mummified remains were discovered by walkers in September 1991. Then, the find was a media sensation and the remains are kept now in a special refrigerated and humidified container with only a small window through which visitors can view them. Apparently, the Iceman may have lived around Vinschgau or the Venosta Valley as it is known in English. However, Schnalstal, or Val Senales, also stakes its claim to involvement in the story, so it certainly appears to be one that is a source of considerable interest for the locals.
Schnalstal also gets a mention on the Merano & Environs website. The area also is called Meraner Land in the original language of the area, and there is more here than either that or the spa town of Merano. That it gets promoted under the banner of the Alpine-Mediterranean way of life is a way of telling you what is there to be savoured is at a crossroads between two things that some might consider never to meet each other in Italy. Much of what you will find here lies along the southern and western boundary of the Texelgruppe Nature Park, the largest of South Tirol's regional parks and a mixture of mountains and lakes. Places that fall into this category include Partschins, Rabland & Töll (in Italian, Parcines, Rablà and Tel), Algund, (Lagunda), Naturns (Naturno), Dorf Tirol and Passeiertal; unless stated otherwise, all names in brackets are in Italian. Between Bolzano and Merano then, the Adige valley has places such as Nals, Tisens Prissian, Marling and Lana to explore. Staring not so far away from the last of these, Ultental (Val d'Ultimo) extends south-west towards the Stelvio National Park area with nearby Deutschnonsberg (Alta Val di Non) extending so far south that Bolzano becomes the nearest big town or city when you go far enough. Returning nearer to Merano, there is a plateau overlooking the town that is promoted by the Avelengo, Verano & Merano 2000 (the first two of these are known in German as Hafling and Vören, respectively) website. This also has been called Merano's sun terrace, so that is trying to tell you what sort of weather to expect when following any of the walking trails to be found around there in summer. The same sort of attraction is said to abound around Schenna (Scenna) too, not so much of a surprise when you look at a map of the area.
The previously mentioned Venosta Valley and South Tirol's regional top Ortler both are near one of the Alps' largest National Parks, and it reflects its presence by being bilingually named too: Parco Nazionale dello Stelvio in Italian and Nationalpark Stilfersjoch in German. However, the park also crosses into Lombardia as well as Trentino. For getting information from near and far, the entry on Parks.it possibly is the best place to find out about the place if you are not an Italian speaker since there are English, French or German versions available; though it links to other subsidiary websites with English versions, the park authority home page unfortunately is in Italian alone. The Swiss National Park is its counterpart on that side of the border with Switzerland, too.
The Alpine incursions do not stop in the east with South Tirol for the Carnic Alps extend into Friuli Venezia Giulia (and to a much lesser extent, Veneto) from Austria and the ridge demarcates something of a weather boundary between both sides of the border too. The Giulia portion of the region's name refers to none other than Julius Caesar himself, and there is another Alpine range to be found, and it too bears his name. The Julian Alps may be better known from a Slovenian point of view, especially since the country top of Triglav is among them, but Italy has its share of these Limestone mountains too.
Dolomites
In 1789, the rock type of which what then was known as the Pale Mounts are composed was identified by French mineralogist Déodat de Dolomieu as a variant of limestone that contains magnesium as well as the more common calcium, carbon and oxygen mixture. It was later on that the newly discovered mineral was named dolomite after him, and the mountains composed of it got the same name in the English language. For what it is worth, it is best to realise that Italians call them Dolomiti.
Either way, they stretch across South Tirol, Trentino and Veneto, with several of their number being only an hour from Venice by car. Being an iconic bunch of mountains, it is hardly surprising that they feature on a not inconsiderable number of visitor information websites. To start, there is Visit Dolomites, Dolomiti.it and Consorzio Dolomiti.
To drill down a little further, let us continue with Trentino, which has Madonna di Compiglio, Pinzola & Val Rendena, Val di Sole, Val di Fiemme, Val di Fassa, San Martino, Dolomiti Paganella, Parco Naturale Adamello Brenta and Parco Naturale Paneveggio - Pale di San Martino. There are mountain huts allowing multi-day The Dolomiti di Brenta Bike website shows you cycling opportunities for exploring the last of these on a mountain biking tour of the area and Associazione Rifugi Trentino is where the regional mountain hut association tells you what it has to offer.
Moving on to South Tirol gets in Alta Badia, Val Gardena, Alpe di Siusi, Catores and Sterzing. Südtirol Rad lets you in on cycling opportunities throughout the region as does Walking and Hiking in South Tirol for pedestrian exploration with Südtirol Ferien providing information on mountain huts.
In Veneto, you find Provincia di Belluno Dolomiti and Cinque Torri as useful places to start looking for information. Within the aforementioned province, you get a national park with an entry on Parks.it and a standalone website of its own too: Parco Nazionale Dolomiti Bellunesi.
Some Lakes near the Alps
Shared between Lombardia, Trentino and Veneto are a number of large and not so large lakes that have gained international star billing in the north of Italy. What gets these included here is the fact that they abut the southern foothills of the Alps, and any mountainous backdrops become more pervasive the further north you go. All this means that there are plenty of walking possibilities too, so visits to these are not just about lazing around, though those options abound for those fancying a spot of relaxation.
Of the lot, it is Lago di Garda that extends into each of the aforementioned regions, with the portion that extends into Trentino not far from Rovereto having its own visitor portal, as does Malcesine in Provincia di Verona. While there is Isole del Garda on Lago di Garda, Lago Maggiore has its Isole Borromee not far from Stresa so it does better when it comes to alluring islands that possess some exquisite architecture to set off their surroundings. The lake also gets featured on Distretto Turistico dei Laghi along with Lago d'Orta, Lago d'Iseo and Valli d'Ossola. The last of these is no lake, but valleys do have their uses for mountain walking and cycling escapes. Lago di Como once was a stop on Grand Tours undertaken by British aristocrats and literati, and the scenery surrounding it would explain why. Then, there are towns on its banks like Menaggio with its Belle Époque heritage, Bellagio with its "Pearl of Lake Como" billing and Varenna with its castle. These only are a few of the many that line these shores, since there are plenty more to explore.
To get to any islands on Lago Maggiore or Lago di Garda or to hop from place to place along the shore of Italy's northern lakes, ferry travel has its uses. For Lago Maggiore, Lago di Garda and Lago di Como, there is Navigazione Laghi while Navigazione Lago d'Orta and Navigazione Lago d'Iseo each serve the lakes that their names suggest they do. Usefully, the Lago Maggiore Express combines ferry and train travel on land for round-robin trips of one or more days in duration around the said lake that takes in part of the canton of Ticino in the south of Switzerland as well. The same Swiss canton also shares Lago di Lugano with Italy, and the lake naturally has its own ferry services too.
More on Transport
When coming to the Italian Alpine areas from afar, chances are that you will be arriving by plane, so knowing where the airports are situated could be handy. Depending on where you are headed, one of Bolzano, Trieste, Orio al Serio, Verona, Corrado Gex, Milano-Linate, Milano-Malpensa, Cuneo, Torino, Venice or Treviso could have its uses. When it comes to train travel, Trenitalia remains the main Italian operator and there is Italo and Ferrovia Vigezzina too. Trentino Trasporti then is a multi-modal transport organisation for its part of Italy. Beyond all of these, there are different bus companies serving different areas and the list included Dolomitibus, Cortina Express, Bus Company, ATAP, Savda, SVAP, SAF, Comazzi, ASF Autolinee, ATB, Silbernagl, SAD and Arriva Italia. For the Orio al Serio airport, there is the Orio Shuttle for getting you to and from there.
