The topography of a territory is strongly affected by its geological history. The Dolomites are ancient coral reefs, separated by sea straits, and they still appear today as highly individual massifs, separated one from the other, unlike other portions of the Alps which look more like veritable “mountain ridges”.
Peaks, valleys and passes are numerous and branched, without apparent orientation, and as varied and fragmented are human settlements; the landscape varies from each point of view but it is everywhere outstanding with high rocky walls that alternate with pasturelands and woods with rounded profiles. The Ampezzo mountains, lying in the heart of the Dolomites, surround an alpine bowl of uncommon proprtions and are one of the most beautiful and unique examples of the wonderful “geographic” chaos inherited from Triassic oceans.