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 The Mountains of the Fiemme The Mountains of the Fiemmehe Fiemme Valley is typical of the eastern

 Trentino region. Most of its mountains arecovered with vast forests, and the valley’s wealth is derived from lumber. The most

important mountains are the Dolomite peaks of Latemar

on one side, and the porphyry rock of Lagorai on theother. The characteristic valley of the river Travignolostarts from the gates of Predazzo, flows eastward towardPasso Rolle, through the marvelous forest of 

Paneveggio, bordering the famous Dolomite group of Pale di San Martino. The name Latemar seems to ahvecome from Laitemar, the name of a local shepherd’s hut, while Lagorai, refers to the numerous lakes (about 98) of the area.

 The small Dolomite group of Latemar was explored

toward the middle of the nineteenth century. The firstascent was made by Anton Grabmayr of Bolzano in

1852 who climbed Il Palon. A few years later, the geolo-gist Ferdinand von Richtoften climbed several of thepeaks in the course of his studies. The Fiemme Valley,in fact, had been noted in the early 1800s because of itsparticular geologic formations. Giuseppe Marzari-Pencati, from Vicenza, published a book in 1819, in which he described these particular formations. IN theCanzoccoli zone, near Predazzo, the granite layer is

superimposed on a layer of limestone, a fact whicharoused great interest from the European scientific com-munity. As a result, the most famous European geolo-gists began arriving at Predazzo - Leopold von Buch, Alexander von Humboldt, etc. Noting the influx of sci-entists, a citizen of Predazzo, Michele Giacomelli, decid-ded to open an inn to provide lodging for these new tourists. The inn “Nave d’Oro” opened in 1820 andbecame one of the best in the whole Dolomite region.

 The Lagorai area, with peaks less than 9000 feet high, did

not attract the mountain climbers. Instead it became aheaven for hikers, and, in the winter, for Alpine skiing.Here there is no history of expert climbers. Rather, it wasthe shepherds who first climbed most of the peaks. Theonly refuge in the Latemarzone is the Rifugio Torre diPisa at an altitude of 8780 feet. It was opened in 1980.

 At a short distance from the refuge may be found a char-acteristic rock tower, over 60 feet high, and leaning justlike the Leaning Tower of Pisa. In the woods abovePredazzo, in the Boscampo locality, there is a character-istic wooden sheep station known as “Bait delle

fontane” where one can find shelter in case of bad

 weather. There are also few ruges in the Logarai region,but on the Fiemme side there are the Rifugio Cauriol,Rifugio Laghi di Colbricion and the Rifugio Refavaie. There are many trails, meticulously maintained by the

SAT agency, both in the Latemar and the Lagorai areas. There are itineraries for every level of hiking skills --from families with children up to expert hikers. Thesouthern part of the Val di Fiemme borders on the nat-ural Park of Monte Corno, founded by the Province of 

Bolzano. This park, th enearby Paneveggio Park, and the wild area of Lagorai, have allowed many animals tothrive there. Deer are especially prevalent, so much sothat a deer has become the symbol of the PangeveggioPark.

 The principal peaks of the Latemar are: Cimon (9337feet), Torri di Latemar (9232 feet), Torre Christomannos

(9180 feet), Schenon (9180 feet) and Paion (9186 feet). The highest peak in the Lagorai group is Cima Cece(9054 feet), followed by Cima Laste dele Sute (8583 feet)and Cima delle Stellune (8547 feet).

Riccardo Decarli (Biblioteca della montagna-SAT,

 Trento) Ricardo knows the mountains that he presents

to us first hand. Hew just published Guida ai Rifugi del Trentino, where he describe the 151 “rifugi” in the Trentino. The book is available from Panorama di Trento: editrice_panorama@iol.it (www.panoramalibri.it)

TT

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