SESTO - It is a romantic and uncontaminated valley which, at the gates of the Tre Cime di Lavaredo Natural Park and between the Sesto Dolomites and Auronzo di Cadore, offers postcard landscapes.
Less than 5 kilometers long from Moso to the Rifugio di Fondovalle, the Fiscalina valley alternates gentle slopes and green meadows with dense larch forests, welcoming farmhouses and imposing rock faces that belong to the Dolomites, a World Heritage Site.
In these weeks of late summer it is pleasant to walk along its numerous and easy paths for walks and Nordic walking and to make excursions on horseback or by bicycle to discover the area.
The meadows are home to tall and majestic lerici that already at the end of September color their hair with the shades of autumn, from yellow to red, from gold to bronze;
even the scents are changing and they smell of damp earth and wood ready to burn in the fireplaces of shelters and houses.
It is a fairytale landscape that also offers high altitude excursions thanks to the Croda Rossa ski lifts: with a simple walk you can easily reach the Monte Elmo Refuge or Alpe Nemes along the path through the woods.
Among the most popular high-altitude excursions is the tour of the Three Peaks: we start from the Auronzo Refuge, at 2,320 meters above the south wall of the Tre Cime, and follow the circular path that allows you to admire the most famous of the Dolomites from all points of view.
From here the Tre Cime di Lavaredo stand out in all their beauty and grandeur, offering a breathtaking spectacle.
Bicycle lovers can follow numerous paths, including the Lienz cycle path, a track suitable for everyone, which goes through the magnificent nature of the valley up to the border with Austria;
in fact, in 4 hours, it is possible to reach Lienz along easy stretches and through beautiful landscapes, entering the woods and following the path of the river.
Once you arrive in the Austrian city you can leave your bike and return to Val Fiscalina by train.
The more trained can also test themselves with the bike-tour, a path that allows you to cross 5 Dolomite peaks, or with the Stoneman-trail, a 120 km long tour in the Dolomites.
For those who love horseback riding, excursions reach the Nemes and Coltrondo huts, the Croda Rossa-Passo Monte Croce or the Tre Scarperi refuge, in the Valle di Dentro.
The walks at dawn to watch the sunrise from Monte Elmo are also really suggestive or, going further, from the top of Monte Specie to admire the spectacle of the sun on the 3 Cime di Lavaredo;
next to the cross there is an observatory with the names of the surrounding peaks - Croda Rossa, Cristallo, Tofane - which the light illuminates with spectacular reflections and shades.
These and many other pleasant excursions are organized by the Bad Moos-Dolomites Spa Resort (badmoos.it), a historic hotel, famous for its suggestive alpine atmosphere and excellent gastronomy.
Bad Moos is the ideal starting point for walks, horse rides, bike rides or very romantic carriage rides.
It is also the place that organizes visits with tastings to local dairies and producers and excursions at high altitude, thanks also to the Croda Rossa ski lifts which are located just outside the hotel.
The strength of the hotel, however, is the wellness proposal of its sulphurous waters: the water source, in fact, flows under the church of St. Valentin, behind the structure, which created the Termesana Spa, over 3 thousand square meters of indoor and outdoor pools, Finnish saunas and biosaunas, Kneipp Sulphurous paths, sulfur caves and Turkish baths.
There are many wellness proposals starting with treatments based on herbs and aromatic flowers, such as the famous hay bath.
Another way to get in touch with the territory is to get to know its history: the Sesto Dolomites, in particular the Croda Rossa, contain many testimonies of the First World War collected in the open-air museum of the Great War, accessible by the Croda cable car Rossa and after a walk of about 45 minutes and 100 meters in altitude.
Fort Mitterberg, built between 1884 and 1889, dates back to another period;
it is located above Sesto, on a ridge of Mount Elmo at an altitude of 1,550 meters, and is considered the best preserved Austro-Hungarian fortified structure in the Dolomites.