The Seiser Alm lies in South Tyrol, the largely German-speaking part of northern Italy. That is why you will also see its Italian name, Alpe di Siusi, on the signs. The alpine meadows lie beneath the Dolomite peaks, around the Schlern-Rosengarten Nature Park.
At roughly 56 square kilometres, the Seiser Alm is a large area. Yet arriving by cable car can feel quite crowded. In high season, the area around the station sometimes has something of a Dolomites Disneyland about it. Fortunately, the mountains do not depend on the busiest terrace.
If you are willing to walk a little further, you get a very different impression. That was the point of my earlier suggestion to leave the area around the mountain station behind. There is no fixed walking time after which the crowds suddenly disappear. Your route, the season and the time of day all make a difference.
A landscape with a foreground
The best-known peaks naturally draw the eye. For a photograph, the meadows in front of them matter just as much. A path, a fence or a single tree can show how far away the mountains really are. Without such a reference, an impressive landscape can look surprisingly flat on a screen.
The Seiser Alm is also a working landscape. Meadows, paths and buildings belong to the history and management of the area. It is not an empty backdrop in which only the mountain peaks count. That combination is precisely what places the photographs in their setting.
Summer and winter each call for a different approach. Grass and footpaths give way to snow and winter sports, while the mountain shapes remain recognisable. This series shows my photographs of the area. For access, cable cars and routes, use local information; those details change more often than the Dolomites themselves.
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