Cicchetti’s photographs form the visual heart of this narrative. His gaze, attentive and respectful, not only captures the beauty and grandeur of the Dolomite landscapes, but reinterprets them through a deeply social lens, highlighting traces of human presence: a path carved into the rock, a home nestled in a valley, a winding high-altitude road. His images, the result of careful research conducted in the field, reveal the delicate harmony between the work of time and the work of man, between persistence and transformation, breathing with the rhythm of the seasons. They also recount the evolution of mountain communities over the past century, which have developed an infrastructure network that has marked nature and place with materials, metals, and lines once foreign to these altitudes.

The words of Antonio G. Bortoluzzi accompany and deepen this visual narrative, drawing from the memory and traditions of the Dolomite communities. His texts give voice to ancient knowledge, rooted in measured gestures and relationships built on responsibility.
They are stories of daily life—of toil, of working the fields and mountainsides, of silent care for a fragile environment that demands constant attention. With a sober yet profound style, Bortoluzzi invites us to look upon these places with fresh eyes, recognizing in the balance between discovery and protection the key to imagining a sustainable future.

The book is the third chapter in the series dedicated to UNESCO World Heritage sites of the Veneto Region (The Prosecco Hills of Conegliano and Valdobbiadene; Venice and its Lagoon). It offers a unique, contemporary, and emotionally resonant narrative—capable of awakening that sense of wonder we all need in order to love our landscapes again and take care of them.

The publication is accompanied by a widespread exhibition, showcasing Manuel Cicchetti’s photographs and Antonio G. Bortoluzzi’s texts. The traveling exhibition will debut in Cortina d’Ampezzo, before continuing across the regions featured in the volume.