Dolomites

The Dolomites don’t look like the rest of Italy, and they don’t sound like it either: half the valleys speak German, a few still speak Ladin, and the menu is as likely to offer you speck and canederli as pasta. They were Austrian until 1919 and the region has never entirely agreed to forget it, which is a big part of what makes it so fascinating.

What nobody prepares you for is the scale. These aren’t rolling alps; they’re vertical walls of pale rock that go pink at sunset and look like something drawn rather than grown. I’ve photographed a lot of mountains, and these are the ones that still stop me.

The mistake first-timers make is trying to base in one place and see everything. The range is bigger than it looks on a map and the passes are slow, so pick one or two valleys, go deep, and promise yourself you’ll come back for the others.