Tires al Catinaccio offers you the best opportunities to get to know King Laurin and his fascinating mountain world
Image gallery: Tires al Catinaccio
Surrounded by the fabulous peaks of the Catinaccio Group lies a small municipality, one of the three villages in the Alpe di Siusi and Sciliar area: Tires in the eponymous valley. It includes the mountain villages of Briè on the slopes above the Isarco Valley, San Cipriano with its little church, Bagni di Lavina Bianca, and the hamlets of Gemeier, Kantun and Villa di Mezzo. Bagni di Lavina Bianca was until recently home to the Nature Park Visitor Centre in the old Steger Sawmill, a magnificent example of a rare water-powered Venetian sawmill. Afterwards, the visitor centre moved to a new building in Siusi allo Sciliar. The Steger Säge remains an information point of the nature park.
Already at this sawmill, idyllically located at the entrance to the Valle Ciamin valley, the trails start that lead you to the surrounding mountain inns such as the Ciamin Mountain Hut and the Monte Cavone-Tschafon Refuge below Mt. Balzo. The area of the Sciliar-Catinaccio Nature Park forms a unit with the protected landscape of the nearby Alpe di Siusi here. You can experience this landscape on foot and by mountain bike, but also on horseback or by paragliding from the air. In winter, the Carezza Dolomites Ski Area at the Costalunga Pass opens its gates.
The Catinaccio Group seems to be made for climbers: Several via ferrata routes lead through the mountain massif, including the Masaré Via Ferrata, one of the most varied in the Dolomites. It starts on the Costalunga Pass. Also included are the Passo Santner Via Ferrata, an absolute classic, and the Catinaccio d'Antermoia Route up to the highest peak of the Catinaccio (almost 3,000 metres). The lifts take you up into the mountains, including the Tires convertible cable car, which was inaugurated at Christmas 2022 - it is the only one in Italy. In the evening, when you return, the peaks greet you with the glow of the Dolomites in beautiful shades of orange and red.
