The Dolomites. A Protected Landscape

A book and exhibition by Marsilio Arte, co-published with the Region of Veneto.

An archipelago of peaks, both complex and majestic — as imposing as it is fragile — that draws the eye to wonder, amazement and enchantment: these are the Dolomites.

Words as a Geography of Experience
Complementing the visual narrative are the words of Antonio G. Bortoluzzi. Rather than merely illustrating the images, his writing tells a story. And in the telling, the landscape becomes an experience.
The exhibition is a symphony in two voices: on one side, the photography of Manuel Cicchetti, who listens to the landscape more than he represents it; on the other, the writing of Antonio G. Bortoluzzi, which restores to the Dolomite valleys and peaks their dimension of story, of history, of civilisation. Together, they create a cultural lens that challenges our way of looking at the mountains — and more broadly, at the Italian landscape — in a time when everything seems to be reduced to surface and consumption.

Photography as a Form of Listening
In Cicchetti’s images, the mountains are stripped of all rhetoric. No postcard charm, no tourist grandeur. Each shot is a gesture of attentiveness.
The photographs are the result of patient, thoughtful work, taken over the course of a year in the nine UNESCO World Heritage Dolomite sites — a journey through seasons, silences, light, and the invisible traces of human presence.

The exhibition is spread across the following venues:

Mario Rimoldi Museum of Modern Art

Alexander G. Hall

Sovilla Bookshop

Grand Hotel Savoia

Paoletti di Follina 1795

Magamaison