The Sesto Dolomites Natural Park covers the three communes of Dobbiaco (1240 m) in a lovely hollow in the Pusteria Valley, San Candido (1173 m) at the mouth of the Sesto Valley, and Sesto (1310 m), one of the most famous climbing areas in the Dolomites and situated in a valley with the gentle slopes of the Carnica range to the north-east and the Sesto Dolomites in the south-west. Some areas of the park are rocky, others gravelly, some are wooded and others have flowery meadows and larch trees. In the rocky and gravelly areas some of the most beautiful flowers in the Dolomites are to be found in the fissures and overhangs, such as the potentilla nitida and Alpine poppy. The wooded area has many different types of trees of which the most conspicuous is the Swiss mountain pine. In the wide meadows there are innumerable species of flowers including soldanelle, lilies of the valley, papradisie, edelweiss and red lilies. About 50 species of birds live in the park of which the undisputed monarch is the golden eagle. It is also home to those animals which need an undisturbed habitat such as chamois, roe deer, foxes, Alpine hares, stoats and martens.

Province: BOLZANO
Communes: Dobbiaco, Sesto and San Candido
Area: 11,635 hectares

Information
Ufficio Parchi Naturali Bolzano, Via C. Battisti, 21, tel. 0471 994300

Geography
The Sesto Dolomites in the communes of Dobbiaco, Sesto and San Candido are the spurs of the north-eastern Dolomites. The highest of these are the Tre Cime di Lavaredo, (Cima Grande, 2999 m), the Rocca and Croda dei Baranci group, the Cima Dodici (3094 m), the Croda Rossa (2936 m) and the Punta Tre Scarperi (3152 m).

Visits
In Dobbiaco you should visit the parish church, which is an outstanding example of local baroque, and Castel Herbsten, one of its most beautiful old residences. San Candido Cathedral is regarded as the most important Romanesque building in the Tyrol and has frescoes by Michael Pacher and a carved wooden crucifixion group. Sesto has the Rudolf Stolz Museum and the terraced cemetery.