Northern Italy’s Blockbuster Mountains, Characters — and Pyramids?
Cinematography is visual storytelling and can make or break a movie’s “it” factor. Scenic backgrounds help set mood, desire and direction, while close-ups can capture emotional treasure. Intriguing storylines and characters are a must. My experience in Italy’s South Tyrol province is film-star-worthy.
A panoramic parade of craggy mountains known as the Dolomites dominates the backdrop of this region. Think enormous stalwart rocks shrouded in majestic mystery, beckoning hikers and amateur photographers to explore.
Now, let’s zoom in. And be prepared to do a double take.
Our adventure begins in Bolzano, a jarring duality of cultures, food and conversations. Menus and street signs here are displayed in Italian and German. That’s because the entire area was once part of the Astro-Hungarian empire until after World War I when it annexed to Italy.
But, oh, the aromas that waft down every cobblestoned street! Soft pretzels served with pizza. Dumplings drizzled with olive oil and melted cheese. Baking bread, strudel and waffle cones.
Bolzano is also home to some pretty jaw-dropping scenery. So, let’s walk the scene.
My retired Marine Corps husband planned (plotted?) a hike to a local castle perched high on a hill. Rather than follow the guidebook’s 1.5-kilometer stroll along a river with a gentle incline, he maps out a GPS-wielding, heart-pumping upward climb. Picture an erratic heartbeat on a life support monitor. Past rows of grapevines and through fields of sunflowers, my feet log 17,545 steps (6.6 miles/4.1 kilometers) and 53 floors.
Is there anything better than arriving at a medieval castle offering fine dining and ice-cold drinks?
Refreshed, we round up our steps with a trek to a tower guarded by a sleeping cat. Hmm, kitty is not moving, even after a gentle pat on the head. Um, the cat is not breathing. We should tell someone, right? Returning to the entrance, we inform a staffer that the tower kitty might be dead. The lady tells us in blendy Ital-Deut-Lish that the feral feline recently arrived and had only accepted a bowl of food a few hours earlier.
The next day, we return to the castle (via the easy guidebook route) and delight in the news that Morka, the kitty, is alive! Yesterday, Morka must have just been in a coma di cibo, a food coma.
Another intriguing resident of Bolzano is Otzi, a 5,000-plus-year-old wet mummy. Nicknamed the Iceman, Otzi was discovered in a deep mountain crevasse a few decades ago after a freak sandstorm exposed his remains previously embalmed in a glacier. Modern DNA tests reveal that Otzi may have been a shaman, a healer, traveling a well-known mountain route and that he had been murdered and left for dead.
Italy and Austria debated over exactly to which country Otzi belonged. His body was found mere feet from Austria’s Tyrol border. Nevertheless, scientists from both countries continue to work together to uncover more of what Otzi’s DNA can tell the modern world.
Next, our story takes a turn — and a teeter — as we search for illustrious earth pyramids.
Venturing from Bolzano, we board a red cable car to its counterpart, Soprabolzano. The enclosed gondola zips straight up for one mile. The landscape boasts hypnotizing yet terrifying vistas for riders brave enough to look.
Arriving jiggly-legged in Soprabolzano, we take a narrow-gauge, open-air train to Collalbo in search of monolithic celebrities. Along the ever-present backdrop of the gentle giant Dolomites, we traipse through undulating meadows populated with cows and flowers. Collalbo is home to some of the world’s tallest earth pyramids. Picture sturdy stalagmites as tall as Redwood trees rising from verdant terrain and wearing bulbous hats.
Contemplating all we’ve seen, I woosh with relief to learn that a bus can take us back to Bolzano. My relief is short-lived. Hairpin turns, no guardrails, and plenty of speeding cars make the ride down akin to the Night Bus from Harry Potter novels.
Ah, back to pedestrian paradise once again. Gelato will make everything better. A rewarding expression I’ve used throughout Italy is posso provare questo, can I try this, followed by a smile and pointing gesture to the desired flavor. Ambling into a gelateria run by an Austrian man, my go-to phrase did not work. His answer was verboten, forbidden. That’s got to be sacrilegious to the very essence of Italian gelato.
Everyone wants a happy ending. Going around the corner to another gelato shop with a serpentining queue was worth the wait. After several tastes, I choose arancia-zenzero, orange-ginger. Yum.
Panning out to the bigger picture, South Tyrol is an ideal scene for making lifetime memories. Hope to see you on set!
Ciao for now. Check out my other Italian posts here. I’d love to hear about your travels, too.
Unless noted, all photographs are my own.
