Holiday in the Dolomites

The Dolomites are also known as the "pale mountains" because of their translucent appearance in the moonlight. At sunset, especially in summer, they glow red during Enrosadira, the famous phenomenon that turns their peaks a dusty pink. Emerging millions of years ago from the primordial Tedid Ocean, the Dolomites are majestic limestone massifs, coral reefs over 2,000 metres high that formed deep beneath the surface of the sea. 

The crisp and healthy mountain air conveys a feeling of peace and serenity: slow down and let yourself go; walk through the flowery meadows in summer or enjoy the immense white landscape on your skis in winter. 
Every holiday season in the Dolomites has its charm and offers endless possibilities.

Unchallenged, majestic and elegant. Wherever you turn, there they are, touching the sky. Some just reaching and some exceeding three thousand metres above sea level. We are talking about the peaks of the Pale di San Martino, the largest mountain group in the Dolomites. The famous mountains, from Cimon della Pala to Vezzana, from Rosetta to Pala, from Sass Maor to Madonna, going through Cima Canaliand up to the smooth wall of Agnèr, in a circular crown surrounding a vast plateau of about fifty square kilometres of pure limestone rock, dotted here and there with potentillas, bellflowers, yellow poppies, saxifrages, gentians and edelweiss. From Passo Rolle to San Martino di Castrozza, from the Primiero villages to Val Canali, passing through Sagron Mis, going up the Valles and rejoining on the Rolle pass, there they are, bordering Primiero and Agordino. They can also be admired from Vanoi, and make an ideal backdrop to the Calaita Lake.

Since the 1860s, a land of conquest for early British and German climbers, and later on gradually becoming the stars of great mountaineering triumphs, "classics" among the most famous in the Alps: the Solleder route to Sass Maor, Spigolo del Velo and Sass d'Ortiga, the Buhl at Canali. Thanks to the many trails, the ski lifts and the high altitude refuges, they are also accessible to simple excursionists, who can admire spectacular views that span from Tognola to Punta Ces, to Passo Rolle, to the great Dolomite groups: from Marmolada toAntelao, to Pelmo, to Civetta.
There are five refuges to reach before getting to the centre of this world: Giovanni Pedrotti at Rosetta, Velo della Madonna, Pradidali, Canali-Treviso and Mulaz, hiking through trails and tackling via ferrata, always well marked and maintained.
But what fascinates everyone - from nineteenth-century travellers to today's tourists - is above all the Pale di San Martino plateau: a lunar place, a mysterious stone plateau suspended at 2,700 meters above sea level. 

Hotel Letizia, a 3-star accommodation in the Dolomites, is immersed in this spectacular landscape, considered among the most striking natural settings on the planet. Come to enjoy it: nature and peace as far as the eye can see are waiting for you!

VAL VENEGIA

If you want to enjoy a truly spectacular view of the northern slope of Pale di San Martino, a visit to Val Venegia is a must.  The gentle valley of glacial origin stretches over the upper section of the Travignolo basin and is a truly idyllic place. Crossing fragrant alpine pastures and their cool streams, you will discover a place of great naturalistic value, not by chance considered one of the pearls of the Paneveggio Pale di San Martino Natural Park. A little curiosity regarding the name "Venegia": it derives from "Venezia" since in past centuries the logs cut from the local forest of Juribrutto were sent to Venice construction sites. In Val Venegia, you can find refreshment at two cosy "malghe" (Agritur Malga Venegia and Agritur Malga Venegiota) and take the path to the Mulaz Refuge, the highest of the Pale di San Martino group.

PALE DI SAN MARTINO PLATEAU

The central Pale di San Martino plateau is extremely vast and hidden. It is not uniform and flat, but forces you to disentangle hollows, rises and detours, to avoid deep cracks in the rock. It is about 10 kilometres long and 5 kilometres wide, at an altitude of between 2,500 and 2,700 metres. The rocky nature of this incredible environment, most of which part of the Paneveggio Pale di San Martino Natural Park, leaves every onlooker speechless, as it did when famous mountaineers first discovered it at the end of the 19th century. Unforgettable are the memories and impressions of writer and fearless mountaineer Dino Buzzati, who inspired by the spectacle of the Plateau wrote The Tartar Steppe. 

For those who want to experience firsthand the excitement of discovering the Pale di San Martino, Dolomites, UNESCO World Heritage Site, through a unique holiday from refuge to refuge on the Plateau, not to be missed is Palaronda, one of the top summer offers, available in two versions: Palaronda Trek, which has routes suitable for everyone, and Palaronda Ferrata for the more demanding and experienced hikers.

VAL CANALI

Val Canali , part of the municipality of Primiero San Martino di Castrozza, can rightly be considered one of the most beautiful valleys in the entire Dolomites. It lies between about 1000 and 2900 meters above sea level, the latter reached by the peaks of the final surrounding section of the Pale di San Martino mountains , such as the spectacular "Sass Maor" or the monumental "Canali". At the mouth of the valley, it is possible to admire the ruins of Castel Pietra , which in times long gone was the home of the feudal Welsperg family of Primiero (at the time under Tyrolean influence), until a fire destroyed it in the 1600s. A little further on, at the edge of a vast meadow, one can see Villa Welsperg, built in 1853 as the summer residence of the Welsperg Counts. Recently renovated, since 1989 it has been housing the administrative headquarters of the Paneveggio-Pale di San Martino Natural Park Those who want to discover Val Canali, will not find an overcrowded fashionable tourist destination, but a natural landscape, in a pristine environment  and withirresistible charm.