As a passionate hiker, I especially love hiking Italy’s Dolomites, where I have explored quite a bit. I wasn’t prepared though for the spectacle that is Val Badia, one of the most important destinations of the Unesco-inscribed Dolomites, where I spent a few days this summer.

Extending for about 16 km from the massive Sella group to the Puster Valley, between the Val Gardena and the Cortina d’Ampezzo area, Val Badia is home to some of the most famous Dolomites peaks, and features a varied landscape, from wide and relaxing meadows and pastures to rugged peaks and pure rock, from steep walls to flat plateaus, where the gray of the rocks alternate with the intense green of the grass.