THE DOLOMITES
Nine vertical stories linked to the World Heritage
The stories of the men and women who explored the Dolomites come together with the history of the Earth. DOLOMITISMO. VERTICAL STORIES series, devised and directed by Emanuele Confortin and produced by the UNESCO Dolomites Foundation, consists of nine documentaries that retrace some of the climbs shaping the history of mountaineering in the Dolomites. In each episode, the emotions experienced by contemporary mountaineers today intertwine with accounts of recent historic events, to then reach back into the distant past, exploring the events that formed these sublime landscapes, environments that can recount 300 million years of the Earth’s history.
The Dolomites were designated a World Heritage Site in 2009, based on the natural and aesthetic beauty of the landscape and the geological and geomorphological significance of these mountains. What is more, mountaineering – itself recognised as an Intangible Cultural Heritage in 2019 –highlights the great fascination of the Dolomites, now as in the past, thanks to these values.
Mountaineers were the first to seek contact with them, feel them and set foot on them, stretching out their fingers, hands and limbs, in order to experience them intimately. Retracing some of their stories offers the chance to take a fresh look at the magnificent scenery of this World Heritage Site and at mountaineering activities in the Dolomites.
Each documentary, lasting around 28 minutes, brings past events back to life, thanks to the experiences of mountaineer Luca Vallata and his guests, who take turns to climb alongside him, to then gaze far back into the distant geological origins of the rock, with contributions from geologist Emiliano Oddone and artistic renditions springing from the pencil of Luigi Dal Re.
The first episode, entitled Return to Cima Mugoni, indeed features Luigi Dal Re, who reclimbs a historic route in the Catinaccio massif, a route that changed his life forever a few years earlier. In the second, Cadini di Misurina, the power of an image, Elisa Castellucci climbs Torre Leo and Torre Diavolo, on the trail of the great Emilio Comici, immortalised in a timeless photograph, while in the third episode, set in the Brenta mountains and entitled Campanile Basso, normality that is out of the ordinary, Davide Cassol reunites with his friend Luca Vallata to reach the summit of one of the Dolomites’ most famous pinnacles. On the wildest slope of Cason di Formìn is the title of the fourth episode, in which Michael Tramontin, part of the Croda da Lago group, recounts his passion for wild rockfaces and winter climbing.
The series continues with Civetta, the Wall of Dreams, in which Claudia Mario climbs the Aste Susatti route at Punta Civetta, at the heart of the North-West face, known as the Wall of Walls, while the sixth episode is entitled Croda Cimoliana, on the trail of history, in which Ivan Da Rios tackles one of the most popular routes, the Gherbaz-Candot in the Dolomiti d’Oltrepiave.
The seventh episode takes us to the Pale di San Martino. Sass Maor, a long-cherished dream reveals the aspirations of the young mountaineer Sofia Mott, who repeats the century-old Solleder-Kummer route, first climbed in 1926 on the immense east face. The eighth story takes us to one of the wildest places in the Dolomites: Spiz di Lagunaz, the perfect dihedral, where Marco Bergamo and Samuele Zeni follow Vallata, in the footsteps of Renato Casarotto and Piero Radin, who made the difficult first ascent deep in the Pale di San Lucano mountains 50 years ago. The series concludes with the queen of the mountains: Marmolada, the value of surrender, featuring Lorenzo Bellenzier, a young and talented mountaineer who testifies to the importance of turning back when faced with unexpected difficulties brought on by an early winter.
The voices of Modesto Alverà, Anna Angelini, Alessandro Baù, Ettore De Biasio, Dante Del Bon, Marika Freschi, Mirco Gasparetto, Andrea Menardi, Franco Nicolini, Bruno Pederiva, Piero Radin, Elena Turro, Maurizio “Manolo” Zanolla and Samuel Zeni also alternate during the nine episodes.
It has been a long journey, undertaken by the UNESCO Dolomites Foundation thanks to funding from the neighbouring municipalities’ fund and with the support of the Club Alpino Accademico Italiano, Alpenverein Südtirol, C.A.I. Veneto, C.A.I. Alto Adige, C.A.I. Friuli Venezia Giulia and the Società Alpinisti Tridentini.
The rockface filming and interviews were carried out by Emanuele Confortin; the drone operators were Filippo Guerra and Leonardo Mizar Vianello, in addition to the director; during the interviews the second camera operators were Elena Barban, Nicolò Mattia Colombo and Lara Piovesan; the screenwriter was Emanuele Confortin, while editing was supervised by Elena Barban and Lara Piovesan, and the original music was written by Sebastian Soso; post-production and video and colour correction were handled by The Studio, and coordination of post-production by Nicolò Mattia Colombo.
