Religious art along the way
Walking among the imposing scenarios of the Dolomites, you will discover that culture and religious art play an important role.
The Dolomites have always been a Catholic area and it is no surprise that the region is characterized by fascinating churches, religious shrines and wooden crosses. Discover the deep tie between religious culture and the mountain environment whilst wandering along the many walking routes.
In Nova Ponente, an ideal base for easy walks, you can see the chapel of Sant’Elena. Inside a wealth of frescoes by the Bolzano School show scenes from the Old and New Testaments. The little Gothic church of San Giacomo, about an hour’s walk from the centre of Ortisei, displays beautiful recently restored frescoes on the outside walls, including a gigantic St. Christopher carrying the Christ Child on his shoulder. The Santa Croce pilgrimage church in San Leonardo inside the Fanes/Sennes/Braies Nature Reserve is also worth the steep hike. San Giovanni in Vigo di Fassa is a beautiful late Gothic building with frescoes depicting scenes from the life of St. John the Baptist. Behind Fiera di Primiero’s parish church stand an old house with a magnificent fresco portraying the Madonna of Charity and the little church of San Martino with numerous paintings on the inside and outside walls. The baroque church dedicated to San Filippo and San Giacomo with its 71m high steeple in Cortina is well worth a look inside. It houses a beautiful altar decorated with woodcarvings by Brustolon and ceiling paintings by Zeiler. Pinzolo is well-known for the San Vigilio church which boasts an impressive Danse Macabre painted by the itinerant Baschenis family from Bergamo.
