Unesco: the Dolomites become Universal Heritage of Humanity

on Friday 26 June 2009
by Francesco Macchi
photo by NeveItalia Ski Team

Lo Sciliar andando verso l'Alpe di Siusi

The World Heritage Committee has officially entered the Dolomites in the list of Universal Heritage of Humanity UNESCO. A decision on the nomination submitted by the Italian government was taken unanimously by the 21 members of the UNESCO committee, meeting in Seville.

The new World Heritage Site by UNESCO is enshrined in nine mountain for a total of 142 thousand hectares, plus other 85 thousand acres of "closest areas", for a total of 231 thousand hectares, divided between the provinces Trento, Bolzano, Belluno, Pordenone and Udine.

Have become heritage protected by UNESCO:
- The group formed by Pelmo and Croda da Lago, located in Veneto, between Cadore and Zoldo;
- The mass of the Marmolada, between Trentino and Veneto, and includes the highest peak of the Dolomites (3,343 meters) and the most important glacier;
- The group formed by the Pale di San Martino, Pale di San Lucano Bellunesi the Dolomites, mostly in Veneto, but also in Trentino;
- The group formed by the Friulian Dolomites and Piave addition, the most eastern, divided between the provinces of Friuli Pordenone and Udine;
- The Northern Dolomites, situated between Alto Adige and Veneto, including jagged Cadini,
- The Dolomites of Sesto,
- The Dolomiti d'Ampezzo,
- The Dolomites Fanes, and Senes Braies;
- The Puez-Odle, all in territory of South Tyrol, today in a beautiful natural park;
- The group formed by Sciliar by Rosengarten and Latemar, between Alto Adige and Trentino;
- The Brenta Dolomites, the most western, where the live brown bear, all in Trentino;
- Leaves of the Rio, an extraordinary canyon, unique in the world, whose rocky layers of different colors and most numerous fossils of prehistoric animals can "read" like an open book in the geological history of Earth.

The application of the Dolomites in Spain had reached the strong positive opinion expressed in recent weeks by IUCN (the World Union for Nature Conservation), the international body charged of looking at applications of natural Unesco. Previous granted as Universal Heritage of Humanity in Italy was given only to the Isole Eolie.

"A dream rocked so long, is implementation." This was the mountaineer Reinhold Messner on the decision to enter the Dolomites in the inventory of protected by UNESCO. "I hope - says Messner - the Dolomites can be seen with new eyes - as a form of creation and immense wealth for us all and not as a soft attraction or postcard for the Internet, to attract a mass tourism. The awareness of this legacy entrusted to us directly undertakes to assume the responsibility for this heritage and we shall ensure that a more conscious tourism and sustainable" .

The Environment Minister Stefania Prestigiacomo spoke of a day "important for Italy and its environment," noting in a footnote as the Unesco recognition for the Dolomites is also "the confirmation of a successful model in the policies of conservation and protection of environmental assets".

"The Dolomites are a unique connecting different regions and provinces in which it was built a system that combines a positive development and environmental protection", Prestigiacomo said. "One example that we have to multiply it represents one of the keys to the future of our country".