Alpe di Fanes, a walk between Nature and Culture

Hiking on the Alpe di Fanes is a journey into the authentic heart of a legendary natural world... and to the very roots of a myth whose origins are lost in time. The plateau, part of the Fanes-Senes-Braies Nature Park, is divided into the Alpe di Fanes Grande and Piccolo [Large and Small]; the latter lies within a natural amphitheatre bordered to the west by the crowning summit of our area, Sas dla Crusc, with its neighbouring peaks – Nove, Dieci, Sant’Antonio and Furcia dai Fers.

The area offers countless possibilities for those seeking quietness as they walk, just a step from the heavens, against a backdrop that nature has painted in the most intense shades of green and pale blue, with the Dolomite peaks as your silent companions. Here, the rarest plant and animal species dwell amidst farmsteads, mountains and lakes, ranging from marmots to ibexes and amphibians, and from edelweiss to the Dolomite yarrow. And, speaking of marmots, it is these very animals, so typical of high-mountain wildlife, that feature in the legends of the Kingdom of the Fanes. These ancient tales, handed down by word of mouth over the centuries, tell of the ups and downs and, finally, the decline of the Fanes people, whose story once played out on these peaks. The Alpe di Fanes is a cradle of great legends – and a theatre of legendary natural spectacles.