Alta Via n. 5 of the Dolomites: from Sesto to Pieve di Cadore
Start: Sesto (BZ) — End: Pieve di Cadore (BL) — Duration: 6–7 days — Length: about 90 km — Difficulty: EE, with EEA-equipped stretches for experienced hikers — Best season: July–September — Mountain groups: Sesto Dolomites, Marmarole, Antelao — Main refuges: Zsigmondy-Comici, Carducci, Ciarèido, Baion-Boni, San Marco, Galassi, Antelao.
Alta Via n. 5, dedicated to the painter Tiziano Vecellio, a native of the Cadore area, is among the most demanding and wild routes in the entire Dolomite Alte Vie system. It sets off from the spires of the Sesto Dolomites, beneath the walls of the Zsigmondy-Comici, and pushes into the Marmarole group, where it reaches the route's highest point at Forcella Giau de la Tana, over 2,600 metres. The trail crosses little-frequented high-mountain terrain, amid glacial cirques, scree slopes and panoramic ridges, with views of the Antelao and the Ampezzo Dolomites. The final stages descend towards the Cadore area, past the San Marco, Galassi and Antelao refuges, ending in Pieve di Cadore, Tiziano's birthplace. A route for experienced, well-trained hikers with a good grasp of alpine terrain, rewarding them with some of the most authentic and least-known views in the Belluno Dolomites.
Discover all the Alte Vie of the Dolomites Fact box
- Stages: 7
- Length: about 100 km
- Difficulty: demanding, wild and little-frequented terrain
- Start: Sesto (1,317 m)
- End: Pieve di Cadore (880 m)
- Main refuges: Emilio Comici, Giosuè Carducci, Monte Agudo, Ciarèido, Baion-Elio Boni, Dino e Giovanni Chiggiato, Antelao
Did you know?
Also called the “Tiziano Route” in honour of Tiziano Vecellio, the great Renaissance painter born right in Pieve di Cadore. It is the easternmost Alta Via of the central Dolomites and crosses the Marmarole group, an enchantingly wild and isolated environment with very few support points.
A path in Tiziano's name
Alta Via n. 5 bears the name of Tiziano Vecellio, the painter who revolutionised Venetian Renaissance art and who was born right in Pieve di Cadore, the town where the route ends after seven stages amid the spires of the Sesto Dolomites and the solitudes of the Marmarole. Along the way, the names of the refuges tell another Dolomite story: the one at the foot of the Sesto walls is dedicated to Emilio Comici, the Trieste-born mountaineer who in the 1930s revolutionised free climbing, opening routes that for the first time brought the “sixth grade” to the Dolomites.
Accompanying the hiker in the last part of the route is also the Antelao, which at 3,264 m is known as the “King of the Cadore Dolomites” for its isolated bulk, visible from much of the province of Belluno.