Alto Cadore: summer and winter holidays

Are you looking for winter or summer holidays just a few steps from Cortina d'Ampezzo? Alto Cadore is the place for you. You can spend here a few days visiting hamlets, admiring murals, practicing free climbing, skiing on its ski areas, or enjoying the countless other activities the Alto Cadore offers you in every season. Here, under the watchful eye of Mount Antelao, there is no chance to get bored. Antelao is the second highest mountain of the Dolomites, after the Marmolada, and a favourite destination for expert climbers and free climbers. Its northern side is crossed by the Haute Route n. 4, that goes from the refuge Galassi to the refuge Antelao. Mount Rite is a very panoramic point, and you can reach its summit on foot following the dirt track or the path that goes through the woods. If you don't want to walk you can take the bus and reach in only 20 minutes a height of 2000 m. Here you can visit the Messner Mountain Museum Dolomites, built in what was once an artillery fort of the First World War. This museum was founded by the famous mountaineer Reinold Messner, and at a height of 2181 m is Europe's highest museum. Here from June to September you can admire important founds, photographs, research findings, mountain paintings, minerals and mountaineering tools.

The Alto Cadore valley is crossed by the Boite, a stream that is very good for sport fishing. With its five tourist resorts San Vito di Cadore, Vodo di Cadore, Borca di Cadore, Cibiana di Cadore e Valle di Cadore, the Alto Cadore offers you the ultimate holiday, full of sport activities and events.

In winter the San Vito ski area has ski slopes for everyone, ski and snowboard schools, artificial snow and the possibility to practice Nordic skiing, ski mountaineering and snowshoeing discovering the Dolomites. There is even a ski bus that can get you to the Cortina d'Ampezzo ski area.

In summer you can take a hike discovering the beauties of nature, Late Gothic churches, important historical remains like the wall on the Giau Pass, archaeological sites like the Mondeval plateau, and the sites of the First World War. You can reach the Senes plateau and its Mosigo pool following the path that joins the two bridges of the Boite stream, through the "viza" woods. The many mountain bike trails suitable for families complete the wide range of sport activities the valley has to offer: you just must try the "Lunga Via delle Dolomiti", a cycle path that goes from Calalzo to Cimabanche, and the Antica Strada Regia, that goes from the Veneto plain to Tyrol

Tradition: the rules of Cadore, the Union de Ladini, and the cuisine

Well-kept meadows and woods, a wonderful landscape that is the perfect setting for pleasant walks; these are not only gifts of nature: the whole community has done a lot to preserve this beautiful environment, and still does. The Cadore is in fact organized according to the Rules, ancient associations founded to administer and safeguard meadows, pasture lands and woods owned by the community. This environmental awareness and protection has lasted for centuries and is still alive thanks to these associations.
Walking along roads and paths you can admire the beauty and neatness of these lands, attend to events and celebrations aiming at enhancing customs and traditions of these mountain people, and hear the typical Ladin dialect. Here too in fact is present the Union de Ladini, made up by the three municipalities of S. Vito, Borca and Vodo.
A journey to discover a territory is incomplete if you don't try the local cuisine. Like in the rest of the Cadore, here in the Alto Cadore you can try simple dishes made with humble ingredients, following tradition: canedi, that are a type of gnocchi; bean soup; game meat, cold meats and cheeses, some produced in the malghe, typical Alpine summer houses, with polenta or potatoes as side dish. Among the desserts you can try the zopes, the péta, and the crafin a la sanvidota.