Italy's Dolomites

By TERRENCE PETTY

updated 3:01 p.m. ET July 13, 2005

BOLZANO, Italy - German and Italian are both spoken in this picturesque town surrounded by the ragged Dolomite mountains. Bolzano's most famous resident, called "Oetzi" by the locals, speaks neither. But he's forgiven. After all, he's been dead for at least 5,000 years.

"Oetzi," also called the Iceman, is a withered little mummified man found protruding from a glacier in 1991 along Italy's mountainous border with Austria.

Displayed in an igloo-like case of ice tiles, Oetzi is the star of the South Tyrol Museum of Archaeology, where people from around the world line up to see him. They gaze at the artifacts found with Oetzi - his longbow, a quiver of arrows, his bearskin hat and goatskin cloak, grass shoes and leather leggings - and wonder what life was like in this rugged corner of the European continent all those centuries ago.

Oetzi - who was in the news again in June because researchers suspect the frozen mummy might have been contaminated by bacteria since its discovery - is just one reason to visit the towering Dolomites.

Are you a history buff? An aficionado of old churches and medieval frescoes? A mountain biker? A rock climber? A lover of wine? A skier? The Dolomites are for you.

The French architect Le Corbusier was said to have called the alpine range the most beautiful architecture in the world. The sun's reflections off the Dolomites' shear-face cliffs are stunning - lighting up the massive rock in multitudes of bright colors.

A range of the Alps that reaches an elevation of more than 10,000 feet, the Dolomites are in northeastern Italy, just south of Austria.

This is the crossroads of Italian and German-speaking culture, where Italian friendliness shakes hands with Teutonic neatness and order - and where you can find tagliolini and schnitzel side-by-side on the same menu.

Much of the Dolomites belonged to Austria until the end of World War I, when the German-speaking country was forced to give it up under the Treaty of St. Germain.

Up until relatively recently the divisions between Italians and German-speakers here have been a source of friction. A separatist movement among German-speakers erupted into violence in the 1960s. A 1971 treaty between Italy and Austria helped overcome ill will.

The western part of the region is called Trentino. It's solidly Italian - the language, the cuisine and everything about it.

To the east is Alto-Adige, or Sued Tyrol, a region that clings to its Austrian past. Towns have two names in Alto-Adige. Bolzano is Bozen among German speakers. Merano is also Meran, Brunico is Bruneck, and Bressanone is also Brixen.

To the northeast of Alto-Adige are the Veneto Dolomites, home to Cortina d'Ampezzo, a posh ski resort that hosted the 1956 Winter Olympics and is playground for Europe's nobility, captains of industry and celebrities.

Travelers in a hurry might be tempted to head straight for well-known spots in the Dolomites like Cortina. That would be a mistake.

Stretching across the majestic Brenta and Adamello mountain groups is the vast Adamello-Brenta National Park, the Alps' last refuge of brown bears.

Prosperous but quaint little towns dot valleys that lie beneath Trentino's rocky summits. One of them is Tione, which is surrounded by alpine beauty that's easily accessible, especially with a local resident as a guide.

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