Call of the Dolomites

Clicking on key phrases like “artistic home” is how I found myself on a balcony in Pozzale one morning, silenced by the view of the Dolomites — the famed mountain range in north-eastern Italy that stretches along the provinces of Trentino, South Tyrol and Belluno.

Pozzale, a 560-strong village just over 1km from Pieve di Cadore, the town and municipality it is a part of, is strategically located for hikes into the Marmarole, a stunning cluster of peaks soaring up to almost 3,000m.

I arrived at my lodgings in the evening, after a one-and-a-half-hour drive from the Venice Mestre railway station. My Airbnb host was an Italian visual artist named Roberto De Pol who has turned the second floor of the family house into a vacation rental he calls B&B Nonostantetutto.

Meaning “in spite of everything”, Nonostantetutto is also the name of Roberto’s art residency project that offers visiting artists of various disciplines a short-term place to live, work or simply dream up ideas. The artworks in the apartment are a part of it.

Nature knows no bounds

The Dolomites, with 18 peaks soaring to 3,000m and beyond, is part of the Italian Alps. Marked a Unesco World Heritage site in 2009, the Dolomites is a popular tourist destination known for skiing, mountain climbing, cycling, hiking and paragliding.

The Marmarole is sometimes known as the wildest group of the Dolomites because of how untouched and isolated this mountain range is. There are fewer hikers and visitors here than the nearby triple peaks of Tre Cime di Lavaredo. Here, it is possible to soak in the silence of the mountains.

From Pozzale, you can do short day hikes or set off on longer ones that include nightly stops at mountain huts. A one-night stay for one person is approximately ¤45 (S$68), inclusive of dinner and breakfast. Typically, accommodation is in the form of shared rooms, dormitory-style, though options and configurations differ from hut to hut.

Roberto can customise hiking plans for a nominal fee. He’ll take care of everything from booking the huts to dropping off and picking up guests at suitable points along the route. This means you can set off on foot from the doorstep into the mountains for as many days as you wish with no redundant baggage in tow. Then, loop back to the apartment for a heavenly bed and a few days of easy sightseeing.

A walk to the clouds

The routes in the Dolomites are so varied that you will find something that suits your fitness and endurance levels. As I am a hobbyist hiker more enthusiastic in spirit than physical ability, Roberto recommended that I attempt the two-hour walk up the 2,183m-high Monte Rite.

It was more trudging than hiking on a wide gravel trail beginning at Passo Cibiana. It was April and there was still knee- to thigh-high unmelted snow as we got nearer to the peak. The key reason why Roberto recommended Monte Rite was because you get a 360-degree bird’s eye perspective of the surrounding peaks with a relatively easy hike.

Standing there, with an endless panorama of the Dolomites before my eyes, I had to say, he was right. The glorious view was a reward that was completely disproportionate to the amount of effort it took to reach it.

- Getting there
The nearest airports are Venice Marco Polo and Venice Treviso for European budget carriers like Ryanair. Car rentals are available at both airports. The drive to Pozzale is approximately one-and-a-half hours from Venice Marco Polo and 1 hour 20 minutes from Venice Treviso. 

By public transport from Venice, the easiest option is to take the direct Cortina Express bus service from the Venice Marco Polo or Venice Mestre train stations. This takes you to Cortina or Tai di Cadore, which is five minutes from Pieve di Cadore by bus or taxi. The nearest train station to Pieve di Cadore is Calalzo di Cadore, which is 10 minutes away by bus or taxi. Find railway connections from other parts of Italy on trenitalia.com/tcom-en.

- Where to stay
At B&B Nonostantetutto, a room for two with a private bathroom ranges from S$91 to S$137 per night. The living room, kitchen and balcony are shared with other guests. Or, book the entire apartment, which accommodates up to eight people, at S$260 per night. Breakfast included. Prices exclude cleaning and Airbnb service fees.