TRENTO - Supporters of Italy's successful bid to get the Dolomites on the United Nations World Heritage List say no other area in the European Alps has the unique fascination of these mountains that have enchanted visitors for centuries.
The Dolomite mountain groups tapped for the World Heritage List on June 26 include 18 peaks over 3,000 metres high and hundreds of summits and pinnacles in nine groups spanning a vast territory with a variety of cultures and traditions - as well as different administrative and institutions setups - and where three languages (Italian, German and Ladin) are spoken. The new United Nations natural heritage site spans three of Italy's northern regions - Trentino Alto Adige, Friuli Venezia Giulia, and Veneto - and is spread over five provinces: Trento, Bolzano, Belluno, Pordenone and Udine. Italy's famous Dolomite mountains joined the world's other treasures on the United Nations World Heritage List after the heritage panel unanimously approved Italy's bid at its meeting in Seville, praising the Alpine range as ''one of the most beautiful mountain landscapes anywhere.'' The mountains' superlative natural beauty and their significant geomorphic features, the two criteria on which the application was judged, united the nine groups in a serial site. Along with the aesthetic importance and the stunning rock formations, the contribution of the people who live in the Dolomites and the local officials that worked for the recognition were fundamental to the successful outcome of the application.
The Dolomites were formed when the landmasses that are now the continents of Europe and Africa came together and pushed the Alps up out of the sea. The reefs and coral that once surrounded lagoons, home to thousands of marine organisms, helped create the Dolomites' striking appearance and unusual geological characteristics. According to the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), the Dolomites allow earth scientists to reconstruct the evolution of a margin between land and sea and successive phases of continental collision and evolution over more than 250 million years. Scientists, especially geologists, were the first to understand the difference between the Dolomites and their neighbouring alpine chains. After French mineralogist Deodat de Dolomieu published studies in 1791 identifying the composition of the mountains' calcareous rock - later named in his honour - scholars from all over Europe arrived to investigate the intriguing new possibilities of explaining the earths' history.
After the scientists, it was the turn of travellers in search of transcendent experiences; the concept of the Romantic sublime that developed in the eighteenth century found a perfect manifestation in the breathtaking beauty discovered in the Dolomite mountain range. As their fame spread the mountains attracted climbers and much of the history of alpinism was written in the Dolomites. The long list of the famous and powerful who enthusiastically described the spectacular landscapes in the Italian Alps includes Goethe, Freud, King Albert of Belgium, Empress Elizabeth of Austria, and Pope John Paul II. Writers, painters and photographers delighted in describing the stunning landscapes and film directors and their art directors used them as superlative movie sets.
The Ladin people, still living in the Dolomites, are inseparable from these mountains. The ancient culture still has its own Neo-Latin language and its own traditions - although its history, despite decades of research, remains subject to much speculation. There are still Ladin clothes, often for occasions linked to the ancient customs, a typical Ladin building style, Ladin artisan crafts and Ladin agricultural practices. The Ladin oral tradition is especially rich and an infinite number of historic legends are handed down from generation to generation. The Magnifica Comunita', an ancient form of government and a unique kind of direct democracy dating from the Middle Ages, are also an important part the cultural heritage in the Dolomite valleys.
