This is the park above Cortina d'Ampezzo, covering the northern half of the municipal territory: 118 square kilometres taking in the Tofana, the Cime di Fanes and the Lagazuoi, Col Bechéi-Lavinòres, the Croda Rossa and the Cristallo. The other massifs and the whole valley floor, another 136 square kilometres, lie outside.

The Veneto Region established it in 1990 on part of the ancient undivided property of the Regole d'Ampezzo, and handed its management to the Regole themselves. The Regole give the area as 11,200 hectares, the park's own site as 118 square kilometres, that is 11,800: the two figures do not match, and you will find both here.

Below: what the park includes and what it leaves out, the peaks and the water, the wildlife, how you get in, and the park's ten rules.

What is inside, and what stays out

The park is the high, uninhabited part of the Ampezzo territory. To the north it borders the Fanes-Sennes-Prags nature park in South Tyrol: together, the Regole write, they form a protected area of 37,000 hectares with much the same landscape.

The Sorapis, the Nuvolau and the Croda da Lago are not part of it. Since 2003, though, the park and a share of those three massifs have been covered by three Natura 2000 areas, sites of community importance and special protection areas: with those extra 50 square kilometres the protected land around Cortina reaches 164 square kilometres, 65 per cent of the municipality. Lago di Sorapis is therefore protected, but it is not in the park.

The cable cars are there and run in summer too, on the Lagazuoi, the Tofana and the Cristallo: the park counts them among the ways into its walking country, not only into the ski areas.

The peaks, the gorges and the lakes

Ten Ampezzo summits pass three thousand metres. Three on the Tofana: Ròzes 3,225, di Mezzo 3,244, De Inze 3,238. Four on the Cristallo: Principale 3,221, di Mezzo 3,154, Piz Popéna 3,152, Cristallino 3,008. Then the Croda Rossa, 3,146, and two on the Sorapìs, Principale 3,205 and Fopa de Matia 3,191, which are outside the park. The highest of all, Tofana di Mezzo, is also the highest point of the protected area, and the Tofana is the only massif that lies entirely in Ampezzo.

Water runs down to the Boite, and for at least fourteen kilometres it runs locked inside gorges. The three main systems are the Rio Travenanzes with the Ru de Ra Vales and the Rio Fanes, where the Fanes waterfalls are; the Felizon with the Ru Bosco; and the Ru d'Ortié, which the park describes as wild and little known.

Above 1,900 metres there are seven basins: Gran and Piccolo de Fòses, Remeda Rossa, the Sorapìs lake, Fedèra and Limides. They are small: Fedèra, the largest, measures 3.47 hectares, the Sorapìs 3.08, the Gran de Fòses 1.62. Lower down there are ten more, from Lago Ghedina to Bain de Dònes. Glaciers and firn fields number ten, shared between Tofana, Cristallo and Sorapìs, but only two still hold a recognisable mass of ice: the Western Sorapìs and the Cristallo. The karst plateaus of Fanes and Fòses are the park's typical landscape: flat pasture, scored rock, shallow pools.

Wildlife: chamois in herds, and corncrakes in the hay meadows

The park counts 160 vertebrate species: 31 mammals, 113 birds, 16 amphibians, reptiles and fish. What surprises, the authority writes, is not rarity but how easily animals are seen: few places in the Dolomites let you watch herds of dozens of chamois at under a hundred metres. The chamois population is among the largest in the Dolomites, counted in thousands. The ibex has been back for more than thirty years and is the subject of a restocking project.

High up there are mountain hares and ptarmigan; on the steep, sunny grasslands of Ròzes, Lerósa and Zumèles, rock partridge; in late summer dotterel pass over the Fòses plateaus. The larch and spruce forests hold capercaillie, three-toed woodpecker, grey-headed woodpecker, pygmy owl and Tengmalm's owl; the valley-floor woods of silver fir and beech hold the forest dormouse, a rare species. Golden eagles and wallcreepers nest on the crags, eagle owls in the gorges.

The hay meadows around Cortina are the other half of the story: the corncrake breeds there, with fewer than 500 pairs left in Italy, along with the red-backed shrike, a sign of low-impact farming. The big predators pass through: brown bear, lynx, golden jackal, bearded vulture and griffon vulture leave tracks and the occasional sighting, but do not settle in these valleys. For the rest of the Dolomite wildlife there is our wildlife guide.

How you get in, and how you move around

Access is by four pass roads and four roads climbing into the high valleys, plus the cable cars. Public transport serves all the main roads; on the valley roads, in the periods when they are closed to traffic, replacement shuttles run. If you come in high season, count on those: the roads up the valleys do close.

Inside the park there are more than a hundred official CAI paths and around twenty places to eat in the Ampezzo territory alone, not counting the huts just over the boundary. Rifugio Lagazuoi is one of the easiest starting points, because the cable car from Passo Falzarego takes you straight there.

The park publishes no visitor centres with an address and opening times: for information you ask the office in Cortina.

The park's rules, in ten points

The regulation is short and fits into ten points. The two biggest differences from other Dolomite parks are collecting, banned for everything including inedible fungi, and mountain biking, which is simply not allowed on paths.

Drones have their own regulation, a PDF on the rules page. Wardens record breaches and apply the fines. The rules of the other parks, side by side, are in our guide to the parks.

  • Motor vehicles: banned, except for forestry and pasture work, mountain rescue and supplying the huts; the same goes for low flying, landing and heliskiing
  • Tents and campers: no camping; the equipped areas for campers and tents are in the pre-park on the valley floor, and higher up there are fixed bivouacs and huts
  • Fires: not to be lit
  • Plants and fungi: picking or damaging any plant and any fungus is forbidden, inedible ones included
  • Fossils, minerals and war relics: collecting is forbidden, as is breaking rock
  • Smaller wildlife: do not destroy it or damage nesting, resting and feeding sites
  • Rubbish: take it home
  • Dogs: on the lead, because loose dogs disturb and injure the park animals
  • Mountain bikes: not on the paths, which are for walkers; cycling routes are marked in blue on the park's map
  • Signs and equipment: not to be damaged

Who runs it, and the UNESCO link

What sets this park apart is who administers it. The Regole d'Ampezzo are an ancient, undivided collective property: the Veneto Region handed them the management of the protected area, in recognition, the Regole write, of centuries of collective stewardship of the land. The park's symbol is Sempervivum dolomiticum, a small succulent with a red star-shaped flower that grows on the Ampezzo plateaus.

The park's mountains belong to system 5 of the Dolomites UNESCO site, the Northern Dolomites: 53,586 hectares across the provinces of Belluno and Bolzano, the largest of the nine systems. It takes in the Sesto Dolomites and the Cadini, Braies-Sennes-Fanes with the Tofane and the Conturines, the Cristallo and the Cadore Dolomites. Three nature parks protect it: this one, Tre Cime and Fanes-Sennes-Prags.

Inside the park

Our pages that fall within the park’s mountain groups.

Hikes

To see

I prati panoramici dell'altopiano del Pralongià in Alta Badia

Sight · Alta Badia

Altopiano del Pralongià

The panoramic plateau of Alta Badia between Corvara and San Cassiano: a rolling sea of meadows with the Sella group, the Sassongher and the Marmolada always in view.

The Fanes Waterfalls in the wooded gorge of Val di Fanes, on the Cortina d'Ampezzo side

Sight · Cortina d'Ampezzo

Cascate di Fanes

Spectacular waterfalls tucked in a shaded forest gorge just north of Cortina, in the Ampezzo Dolomites Nature Park.

The Cinque Torri seen from the west, with Torre Grande on the right and meadows in front

Sight · Cortina d'Ampezzo

Cinque Torri

A cluster of near-perfect rock towers above Cortina, a much-loved climbing spot and one of the finest open-air museums of the First World War.

Piccolo Lagazuoi seen from Passo Falzarego, with the cable car station and the hut on top

Sight · Cortina d'Ampezzo

Rifugio Lagazuoi

The highest refuge near Cortina, with what many call the finest panoramic terrace in the Dolomites, and tunnels cut through the mountain during the Great War.

Il gruppo delle Tofane e l'altopiano di Ra Valles sopra Cortina d'Ampezzo

Sight · Cortina d'Ampezzo

Tofane e Ra Valles

The group that stands for Cortina: the historic Freccia nel Cielo lifts take you up in minutes to the bare amphitheatre of Ra Valles and Cima Tofana.

Huts

Frequently asked questions

How big is the Ampezzo Dolomites Nature Park?
The park's own site gives 118 square kilometres, that is 11,800 hectares; the Regole d'Ampezzo, who manage it, give 11,200 hectares. Either way it is the northern half of Cortina's territory, out of 254 square kilometres in total.
Is Lago di Sorapis inside the park?
No. The Sorapìs, the Nuvolau and the Croda da Lago lie outside the park boundary. Since 2003 part of those massifs has been protected as a Natura 2000 area, a site of community importance and a special protection area.
Who manages the park?
The Regole d'Ampezzo, the ancient undivided collective property of the people of Ampezzo. The Veneto Region established the park in 1990 on part of that property and handed its management to the Regole.
Can you mountain bike in the park?
Not on the paths: the regulation keeps them for walkers. Routes open to bikes are marked in blue on the park's map.
Can you camp in the park?
No, neither with a tent nor with a camper van. The equipped areas are in the pre-park on the valley floor; higher up there are fixed bivouacs and mountain huts.
What is the highest peak in the park?
Tofana di Mezzo, 3,244 metres. The park takes in the whole Tofana group, the only massif entirely within Ampezzo, including Tofana de Rozes (3,225 m) and Tofana De Inze (3,238 m).
Will you see chamois?
Yes, and it is one of the things the park is known for: the chamois population is among the largest in the Dolomites and the authority writes that they are counted in thousands, often in herds less than a hundred metres from the path. Watch from a distance and do not approach.

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