After surfacing out of the water, these coral reefs were weathered by the elements and shaped into the pointed and sharp structures that mark the landscape today. The name dolomia – engl. Dolomite rock (to be precise, the Pale di San Martino are made of “Dolomia dello Sciliar”) is a homage to Marquis Déodat De Dolomieu, who in 1788, while travelling through our mountains, discovered their chemical composition (the Dolomite rock is a combined calcium and magnesium carbonate). Yet what has always captivated visitors - from 19th century travellers to modern-day tourists - is most of all the Altipiano delle Pale: a stone plateau set at 2700 metres altitude, a lunar and mysterious landscape, fifty square kilometres of bare rock to be discovered.