The mountains are not ours: how to experience the Dolomites with freedom and respect

The mountains belong to everyone precisely because they belong to no one. We can cross them, get to know them and let their beauty change us. What we cannot do is behave as if every wood, path and pasture were ours alone to use.

Walking in the Dolomites means entering a living environment, not a stage set built for us.

Photo: Mattia Revelant, Unsplash License.

There is a saying that crops up again and again whenever people talk about the mountains: ‘The mountains belong to everyone.’ It is a fine sentiment, but an incomplete one. If it means that no one should be denied the chance to encounter nature, breathe in the woods or walk a trail, then it is a principle worth defending. If, on the other hand, it becomes an excuse to do whatever we like wherever we like, it loses all meaning.

The mountains are not a playground, a private track or a backdrop laid on for our social media content. They are a complex system in which wild animals, woods, streams, meadows, pastures, traditional activities, private property, visitors and local communities all coexist. Our freedom to pass through it exists only as long as it does not compromise the lives, safety and freedom of others.

We do not own the woods because we walk in them every Sunday. We do not own the path because we ride along it on our bikes, nor the meadow because our dog loves to run free across it. We are guests, and a respectful guest tries to understand where they are, who lives there and what trace they will leave behind once they have passed through.

Protecting does not mean closing off

There is a false opposition that keeps resurfacing in many debates: on one side those who want the mountains to be accessible, on the other those who want to protect them. In reality, enjoyment and conservation are not enemies. An environment that is known and experienced mindfully is understood, loved and more readily defended. But ‘accessible’ cannot mean ‘without limits’.

A fragile area may require a seasonal closure. A route crowded with families and walkers may not be compatible with bikes hurtling downhill. A wildlife breeding area may call for greater quiet and care. A route suitable for horses may not coincide with a narrow, exposed or easily eroded path. These are practical differences, not moral judgements on people or activities.

The Belluno Dolomites National Park reminds visitors that its heritage is extraordinary but fragile, and that it must be visited without being damaged. Among other things, its regulations govern bicycles, motor vehicles, camping and mushroom picking; they also prohibit behaviour such as lighting fires, picking flowers, damaging plants and disturbing animals.

Bikes and e-bikes: not every track is a trail

The bicycle is a wonderful way to discover the area and can be a low-impact form of mobility. But a bike, especially on a descent, moves at speeds and with stopping distances very different from those of a walker. By making big climbs and long distances easier to tackle, the e-bike widens the number of visitors and makes information and responsibility all the more necessary.

Within the Park, cycling is permitted on state, provincial and municipal roads and on many authorised forestry and farm tracks. However, the official page on cycling routes points out that some forest roads are off-limits and that cycling on footpaths is prohibited.

Respecting this distinction does not mean being against mountain biking. It means steering each activity towards suitable routes, reducing conflicts and accidents, limiting erosion at the most sensitive spots and ensuring a better experience for everyone.

On horseback: an age-old way of travelling that needs suitable routes

Crossing a landscape on horseback creates a slow, deep relationship with it. This activity too, however, needs routes that are suitable in terms of width, surface, gradient, safety and coexistence with other users.

In the Belluno Dolomites National Park, horse trekking is permitted in zones C and D, which broadly include certain valleys and specific areas, and on various forest roads. The Park offers a selection of routes that can be ridden on horseback. Here too, the answer is not a blanket ban but an informed choice of where the activity is compatible.

Walkers can be badly behaved too

It would be all too easy to blame every problem on dogs, bikes or horses. Those on foot do not automatically acquire a licence in environmental sensitivity. They leave the trail to take shortcuts, trample meadows, pick flowers, drop tissues and litter, leave gates open, shout, play music through speakers, approach animals for a photo or wander onto private land and pastures without a second thought.

Respect depends not on how we travel but on how we behave. The mountains make no distinction between boots, wheels, paws and hooves: they record the consequences of every passage.

We need clear rules, not incomprehensible signs

Rules work when they are reasonable, visible and easy to find out about before setting off. A small sign at the start of a route is not enough. What is needed are up-to-date maps and a shared system that can indicate, for each route:

• whether dogs are allowed and under what conditions;
• whether a lead is compulsory;
• whether bikes and e-bikes may use it;
• whether the route is suitable for horse trekking;
• whether there are seasonal restrictions;
• whether there are pastures or areas sensitive for wildlife;
• which authority set the rule and when it was last updated;
• what difficulties, hazards and accessibility conditions it presents.

A digital map of this kind would be useful to visitors, but also to mountain huts, guides, tourism operators and residents. It could become a core service for DolomitiBelluno.it and for the forthcoming DOLO+GO app: not just telling people where to go, but helping everyone choose the right place for their own way of experiencing the mountains.

Educate, inform and monitor

The surveillance carried out by the Park Authority and the Carabinieri Park Unit is indispensable, but no area can be protected through penalties alone. The first line of defence is cultural: accurate information, environmental education, clear signage and consistent behaviour on the part of those who live in the mountains and tell their story.

When rules are knowingly broken, checks are necessary. But the most important result is achieved when someone chooses of their own accord not to enter a sensitive area, keeps their dog on a lead, slows down on their bike or picks a different route because they have understood the reason for that restriction.