The Venegia Valley is a prime example of mountain pastureland in the Dolomites. Surrounded by the spectacular rock faces of the Pale di San Martino, the valley contains large clearings of pastureland cultivated with traditional farming methods for centuries and filled with many different flowers.
Here we can find all the elements of a typical Dolomite pasture landscape: undulating bases covered in rich green meadows and dairies, slopes carpeted with conifer forests, large mantles of scree where pioneer vegetation has made its home among the awe-inspiring bare rock faces.
Given the sheer size of the meadows, the whole valley is exceptionally scenic and offers splendid views over all the northern area of the Pale, from Monte Mulaz to Cimon della Pala.
This system is dominated by the huge Ladinian-Carnian carbonate platform of Pale di San Martino-Agner-San Lucano-Pelsa-Coldai that erosion has caused to re-emerge, doing away with the thin layers of basin, volcanic and terrigenous material that once covered it. The dizzying faces to the sides of these mountains were once the ancient underwater slopes of the island, while the broad plateaux at the summits are the shallow lagoons that formed inside them.
