Surface: 31,666 hectares Provinces: Belluno, Trento Main peaks: Cima Civetta (3,220 m) Cima della Vezzana (3,192 m) Cima di Bureloni (3,130 m) Cimon della Pala (3,129 m) Pala di San Martino (2,982 m) Cima della Fradusta (2,939 m) Monte Mulaz (2,906 m) Moiazza (2,878 m) Agner (2,872 m) Sass Maor (2,814 m) Schiara (2,565 m) Gusela del Vescovà (2,365 m) Talvena (2,542 m) Burel (2,281 m) Nature reserves: Parco Nazionale Dolomiti Bellunesi Parco Naturale Paneveggio – Pale di San Martino
dramatic vertical cliffs, peaks rising sharply above 3000 meters and bare rocks. The system shows all the typical morphological components of the Dolomite Landscape: extensive bases; imposing mantles of detritus; horizontal structural elements interrupting the rock faces; perfectly vertical, great white rock masses. These forms resemble geometric figures like prisms and parallelepipeds, and their beauty is celebrated in writings and paintings.
the stratigraphy covers an interval of time going from the Early Paleozoic to the Cretaceous. Typical Dolomite Landscape, with rocky cliffs, plateaus, valleys, and steeples. The area abounds in fossils, karst landforms and glacial and periglacial landforms.
Pale di San Martino and San Lucano, Dolomiti Bellunesi and Vette Feltrine are the third component part of the Dolomites serial property, included by UNESCO on the World Heritage List. The system, located in the provinces of Belluno and Trento, has a horseshoe shape, comprises distinct mountain areas and features one of the most complete stratigraphic series of the whole Dolomites, going from the Early Paleozoic to the Cretaceous.
The system covers an extensive area which includes: Vette Feltrine; the Cimonega-Erera-Brandol group with the Piani Eterni and the integral nature reserve Piazza del Diavolo; Civetta; Moiazza; Schiara; Talverna; Monti del Sole in all their wild and ancient beauty; Pale di San Lucano; and Pale di San Martino . The latter feature many glaciers of different sizes, the largest being the Fradusta Glacier.
The system shows a significant geodiversity: rocky cliffs, glaciers, peat bogs, streams, grasslands, pastures, narrow valleys, wild landscapes protected by nature reserves, and strong color contrasts created by the dark volcanic rocks and by the white walls of San Lucano and Valle di Gares.
The component part of the Dolomites World Heritage serial property identified with Pale di San Martino and San Lucano, Dolomiti Bellunesi and Vette Feltrine is of great geomorphological value thanks to the many examples of how landforms change with water and glacial erosion and examples of karst phenomena, the most famous and vast of which is the glacio-karst depression of the Erera-Piani Eterni plateau. Mount Civetta is on the other hand a perfect example of rock stratification.
From a geological point of view, the third system of this serial property offers the most complete stratigraphic series of the Dolomites. The southern sector features many fossils of calcareous and siliceous sponges dating from the Early Triassic to the Cretaceous. The northern sector is more complex and varied, featuring one of the vastest Triassic reefs, and the Fradusta Plateau on the Pale di San Martino, unique for altitude and dimension, is a Dolomite reef laid bare by erosion.
The Paneveggio Forest in the sector of Pale di San Martino is known as the Forest of Violins, since the wood of its red firs was used to make violins. It is said that it was Stradivari himself to choose the most suitable trees.