As I had planned a full day of driving around the Italian Alps anyway, why not try to reach an inscribed area of the Dolomites? The easiest option is to go for the Brenta Dolomites, a mountain range about half an hour north of the Fiavè Pile Dwellings. As I was travelling in mid-December, I opted out of the drive on the northern mountain passes via Madonna di Campiglio as they surely would be covered in snow. I decided to try a southern loop, starting from Capo di Ponte (Valcamonica WHS!) via Bagolino.

The first 10km went great, the weather being unusually warm and sunny for the time of the year. There was no snow on the ground in the valley either, and only little of it on the mountain peaks. At a turn-off, though I was stopped by a sign ‘Crocedomini – Closed’. This really is a minor road (SS669), it can be beautiful in summer and I hope someone out will try it out for a review on this website. To me, it meant that I had to drive back all the way to Brescia, and go for the full southern approach: driving north on the highway to the Brenner Pass. That was the moment that I lost the tiny bit of time I had left in the itinerary for lunch….

The different approach went well, and I arrived at the “Dolomites viewing destination” Lake Molveno at 2.30 p.m. The core zone of the Brenta Dolomites (area number 9 in the WH nomination) rises up just behind this Lake. I had wondered how I would be able to distinguish them from all the other mountains in this area, but that proved to be no issue at all. Their shapes and colours are so different from the “regular” Alps. Lake Molveno is an excellent viewing location, delivering a kind of image that is popular in jigsaw puzzles. I stopped at various spots around the lake and saw it once more from a distance near Dorsino.

Of course, I would have liked to spend more time exploring these mountains, hiking at high altitudes for example. But this short drive-by visit did allow me to take in the OUV (the beauty of the mountain landscape) of the core zone of one of the parts of this WHS.