The Alps
The Alps is a special place, it actually is many special places, different yet similar, but with a definite Identity.
On a few instalments of these series, we are going to travel through the Dolomites. Another place made of places and layers. From (ever growing) tourist filled valleys, where identity and tourism blend and cars pile on winding roads, through the green, yet suffering forests, to the raw dust and rock of the peaks
Agriculture cannot be easy on these slopes, Cattle uses up a lot of the land and, economically, probably it makes sense. Skiing takes most of the rest. Yet, in summer, fodder for the animals will grow
Somewhat desaturated under the summer sun, these valleys get hot as they are basically basins among mountains. Greenery, flowers and wood is the background on the villages, while flashy Polyester clothes, Diesel SUVs have taken the foreground
Yet culture and tradition is not difficult to find. And History.
WWI frontlines run close to here, and the past is still present in the culture and language. Crosses remember those who died, many never to be found again on the unforgiving mountains. Nowadays not even the tourist go where so many perished. It is difficult and hard to get there, even if no one is mortaring you
The typical alpine cow, chilled most of the time, providers of fantastic cheese, better climbers than the average tourist