Alta Via n. 2

Gruppo del Sella innevato, Dolomiti

Alta Via n. 2 of the Dolomites: from Bressanone to Feltre

Start: Bressanone (BZ) — End: Feltre (BL) — Stages: 12 — Length: about 180 km — Elevation gain: about 11,000 m — Difficulty: E/EE, one equipped EEA stretch — Best season: late June–September — Mountain groups: Plose-Putia, Puez-Odle, Sella, Marmolada, Pale di San Martino, Vette Feltrine.

Alta Via n. 2, also known as the “Alta Via of the Legends”, crosses some of the most spectacular and mysterious mountain groups of the Dolomites, tied to the fascinating Ladin legends of the Kingdom of Fanes. From Bressanone the route climbs towards the Plose plateau and the Puez-Odle group, before entering the heart of the Sella group, amid sheer walls and vast expanses of Dolomite rock. It continues across the Marmolada massif, the Queen of the Dolomites, and the Pale di San Martino, one of the largest and wildest groups in the entire Dolomite range. The final stages lead towards the Vette Feltrine, in the heart of the Belluno Dolomites National Park, with gentler but no less striking landscapes, down to the final descent into Feltre. A demanding but extraordinarily varied itinerary, combining high altitude, historic refuges and one of the best-known stretches of the whole Alte Vie system: the equipped via ferrata that allows hikers to safely cross some exposed passages in the Sella group.

Altipiano delle Pale di San Martino
Discover all the Alte Vie of the Dolomites

Fact box

  • Stages: 12
  • Length: about 180 km
  • Elevation gain: about 11,000 m
  • Difficulty: from E to EEA, with one genuine via ferrata stretch (Sentiero delle Farangole)
  • Start: Bressanone
  • End: Feltre
  • Best season: June – September
  • Main refuges: Plose, Genova, Puez, Franco Cavazza al Pisciadu, Giuseppe Volpi al Mulaz, Giovanni Pedrotti alla Rosetta, Treviso, Bruno Boz

Did you know?

It is known as the “Way of Legends” because it crosses the settings of ancient Ladin sagas, between the Monti Pallidi and the Kingdom of Fanes. It touches the highest point of all eight Alte Vie, the Passo delle Farangole at 2,932 m, and crosses no fewer than six different Dolomite groups.

The myth and the history behind Alta Via n. 2

The central stretch of Alta Via n. 2 crosses the lands of the legendary Kingdom of Fanes, one of the most fascinating narrative cycles of the Ladin Dolomites: the saga tells of Dolasilla, the warrior princess born from an eagle, and of the betrayal that led to the kingdom’s disappearance among the Monti Pallidi. A little further on, the route skirts the Marmolada, the “Queen of the Dolomites”, whose glacier still today holds the remains of the City of Ice: an entire network of galleries and barracks dug into the ice by Austro-Hungarian troops during the First World War, able to house hundreds of soldiers.

With its nearly 180 km and the Passo delle Farangole at 2,932 m as the highest point of the whole Alte Vie system, Alta Via n. 2 remains an ideal bridge between legend and history, between Ladin fairy tales and the memory of the Great War written into the ice of the Marmolada.

All the Alte Vie of the Dolomites

Alta Via n. 1
Alta Via n. 2
Alta Via n. 3
Alta Via n. 4
Alta Via n. 5
Alta Via n. 6
Alta Via n. 7
Alta Via n. 8