“The last lights fall on a 2025 that saw the Dolomites at the centre of a broad debate on the future of the mountains, its inhabitants and its visitors. A 2026 marked by the Milan Cortina Olympics will soon dawn: an extraordinary opportunity, among other things, to promote the authentic values of a territory that is really one of a kind.
The debate on reference tourism models appears, particularly in the valleys surrounding the nine Systems of the World Heritage Site, now more heated than ever, and the polarization it generates is, above all, confirmation of how deeply the present and future of this heritage site matter, well beyond the many differing viewpoints. Its Outstanding Universal Value must be preserved and passed on to future generations. It is therefore inevitable that positions should sway between the conservation of these values and the desire to support the continued presence in the mountains of the generations that will inherit them.
The work carried out in 2025 by the UNESCO Dolomites Foundation was focused, also for this reason, on one side on monitoring the state of conservation of the Asset and institutional relations, and on the other on networking activities centred on conscious and responsible mountain visitation, on the study and promotion of the geological and landscape values of the World Heritage Site, on the importance of parks and protected areas, on strengthening training and relationships, particularly with local administrations, mountain hut managers, and all parties who deal with the mountains at any level.
I believe that it is also thanks to these ground activities that I can say that the meeting point between conservation and sustainable development can be found around the word “authenticity.” As inhabitants of a fragile and beautiful territory, we have always had to face the equally fragile balance between mankind and nature, and an authentic approach can arise, in my opinion, precisely from the awareness of this fragility and of the complexity of the contexts that characterize the Dolomite mountains: to the superficiality of uninformed and reckless visitations, we must not add the superficiality of thinking, or hoping, that easy solutions exist for complex problems, nor that of thinking, or deluding ourselves, that the problems do not exist.
The heritage of the Dolomites is serial, and as such it must be managed adapting to the specific characteristics and issues typical not only of each province or region but even of each single valley. Equally important is the overall vision that arises from the dialogue between the territories, sometimes challenging but always sincere and forward looking. It is also for this reason that I wish to thank Stefano Zannier, Councillor of the Friuli Venezia Giulia Region and my predecessor as Chairman of the UNESCO Dolomites Foundation, and all the members of the Board of Directors, always striving to ensure smooth and excellent collaboration. I have personally witnessed the importance of dialogue between territories even in these first months of my presidency, for example during the Course for World Heritage Site Administrators held in Claut, where many mayors, councillors, and representatives of various local authorities across the Dolomitic arc attempted to imagine the Dolomites of the future.
This is the role of the UNESCO Dolomites Foundation. This is the path that the recognition itself entails: far from being a “label,” it is a constant commitment that drives choices toward the achievement of that difficult balance between environmental protection and a lived-in and inhabited mountain.
The spotlight is already shining on the Olympic event, and it will be everyone’s responsibility – particularly those covering the event in the media – to ensure that the Dolomites are not portrayed as a mere wonderful backdrop, but as a work of art that took millions of years to complete and whose interpretation requires wearing the glasses of complexity, in order to be able to fully grasp the landscape and geological values that led to its inclusion in the World Heritage List. Posting an enrosadira or taking a selfie is not proof enough to claim to have experienced and understood these mountains.
My first wish for 2026 is, therefore, that the Olympic year become an opportunity to convey an authentic image of our territory, rather than a polished one.
My second wish concerns us who live in these valleys: let us continue to regard the World Heritage recognition as an opportunity to bring forth our authenticity. We have always known that the Dolomites are the most beautiful mountains in the world, and since 2009 the world, through UNESCO, has confirmed it for us. Passing down their integrity to future generations is a challenge that also calls into question that balance between people and the environment that our communities have always placed at the heart of their history.”
Roberto Padrin,
President of the UNESCO Dolomites Foundation