A dream that has been long
nurtured has come true’, said one of the world’s great mountaineers, Reinhold
Messner, after hearing news of the recent decision by the World Heritage
Committee to grant Italy’s famous Dolomites mountains entrance into the prestigious
world rankings of the ‘world’s most universal’ places.
The World Heritage Committee panel voted unanimously
for the breathtaking mountain range on June 26, praising it as ‘one of the most
beautiful mountain landscapes anywhere.’ The Dolomites now join other natural
wonders such as the Galapagos Islands and manmade ones like Angkor Wat temple
in Cambodia and Versailles palace in France.
Messner, who has been scaling the range for decades,
helped launched the Dolomite bid in 2004, saying, ‘The Dolomites are unique.
They cannot be compared to any other mountain in the world…Their beauty derives
from the contrast between the green of the meadows and the vertical rock faces
and the composition of the rock itself, which changes colour throughout the
day.’
Adding the Dolomites to the roster means that Italy
consolidated its position at the top of the UNESCO rankings. Italy now boasts
44 UNESCO World Heritage sites, including the historic centres of Rome, Venice,
Florence, Siena, Verona, Ferrara, Ravenna, Assisi, Urbino and San Gimignano;
the Roman city of Pompeii; the Leaning Tower of Pisa; the Amalfi coast; the
Cinque Terre region near Genoa; Puglia’s trulli buildings; Hadrian’s Villa at Tivoli; the Greek temples in Agrigento; the
Etruscan tombs in Cerveteri north of Rome; and the Milan church that houses
Leonardo da Vinci’s Last Supper.
