The Fanes Group

The best-known peaks

• Piz dles Cunturines3,064 m
• La Varella3,055 m
• Cima Dieci3,026 m

Elevations from the map (OpenStreetMap).

How it is built: a plateau ringed by walls

The heart of the group is a plateau. The Fanes and Sennes plateaus, the Province of Bolzano writes, are shaped by karst: limestone pavements, fissures, shafts, dolines and caves. On the Fanes alp stand the Fanes and Lavarella huts, the latter at 2,050 metres, and the small lakes described on our plateau page.

All around rise the walls. Above Val Badia a ridge runs from Sas dla Crusc, 2,907 metres, to Cima Dieci, La Varella and the Conturines. To the south the group reaches the Fanis peaks and the Lagazuoi, above the Falzarego Pass. To the east Val Travenanzes, a valley with no roads or huts, separates it from the Tofane.

Where to enter

There are four access points, one for each valley:

• From San Vigilio di Marebbe you reach Pederü, 1,548 metres, the start of the route to the plateau and Rifugio Lavarella. San Vigilio has the park visitor centre.
• From Alta Badia you start at Capanna Alpina, 1,726 metres, above Armentarola: trail no. 11 climbs to Col de Locia, 2,069 metres, and onto the plateau. In winter it is a skinning route.
• From the Falzarego Pass the cable car goes up to Rifugio Lagazuoi, at 2,752 metres, at the southern end of the group.
• From Cortina, starting at the Fiames visitor centre, you follow the gorge of the Fanes stream to the waterfalls, on a partly protected path.

What to do: the plateau, the Alta Via 1 and the four peaks

The easiest way to get to know the group is to walk up to the plateau and wander between huts and lakes. The Alta Via 1 crosses it: in the Province of Belluno guide, stage three runs from Rifugio Fanes to Rifugio Lagazuoi, with 5 hours of walking and 1,070 metres of ascent.

If you are experienced, Alta Badia offers the 4 Peaks: Sas dla Crusc, Cima Dieci, La Varella and Conturines, from the Santa Croce hospice above Badia to Capanna Alpina. The tourist board rates it difficult, 24.4 km, 10 hours and 2,000 metres of ascent, with harness, carabiners and helmet, and advises against going alone.

The Conturines bear and the Great War

The best-known story of the group comes from a cave below the Conturines, where the remains of a cave bear were found. For the Museum Ladin, which dedicates its Ursus ladinicus museum in San Cassiano to it, this is the oldest dated cave known so far in the Alps and the highest site in the world with remains of cave bears and cave lions.

The southern edge of the group was a front line in the First World War: on the Lagazuoi, tunnels and trenches are part of the open-air museum that reaches as far as the Cinque Torri.

Names, parks and UNESCO World Heritage

Alta Badia uses the Ladin names: Conturines, Lavarela, Piza dales Diesc, Sas dla Crusc. In Italian they are Cima Conturines, La Varella, Cima Dieci and Sasso di Santa Croce; in German the group is the Fanesgruppe and the peaks are Conturinesspitze, Lavarela, Zehnerspitze and Heiligkreuzkofel. The plateau also gave its name to the Ladin legend of the kingdom of Fanes, told on our plateau page.

The Dolomites UNESCO Foundation places the group in the Northern Dolomites, the largest of the nine World Heritage systems, and among its peaks names the Lagazuoi ridge and the Conturines group. Two of the system's three parks reach Fanes: the Fanes-Sennes-Prags, 25,485 hectares, established in 1980, and the Ampezzo Dolomites park, which on the Veneto side includes Fanes, Col Bechei, the Fanis peaks and the Lagazuoi.

Nearby

Places that fall inside the group’s frame but are closer to another group.

• Sass Songher
• Rifugio Lagazuoi
• Tofane e Ra Valles
• Cascate di Fanes
• Fanes Waterfalls: the hike to the hidden cascades
• Rifugio Lagazuoi
• Passo Falzarego