Nevertheless, did you know that in the mountains of the Dolomites, a Unesco World Heritage site, orchids have their home?

We are more accustomed to associating the delicate and varied world of high-altitude flora with edelweiss, a strong, resistant flower that fears neither cold nor wind nor drought. It has a special feature: its silver velvety petals are actually small leaves, the green of which is hidden by the soft down.

Well, among the amazing variety of flowers – all protected because their survival depends on it -, the species of orchidaceous are various, one more beautiful than the other, among the most nominated, the Negritella. If this is the case, you can also admire the poppies: do not expect them to be red. They are a beautiful sunny yellow, they are perennial plants that grow up to over 3000 meters and bear the name of Rhaetian poppies. They love scree and moraines; an incredible flower that looks like an artistic work is the rock Raponzolo, the color of lilac, with the characteristic bunches of flowers whose corollas end with a violet stylus that looks like some nice extraterrestrial creature of our imagination.

The great garden of the nine UNESCO sites is also home to numerous endemic species (not found elsewhere), such as the Tyrolean Primula, the Sassifraga di Facchini or the Campanula morettiana: they love to color rocky environments such as ravines and crevasses, pay attention to them when you go up into the mountains.

But it is walking along the paths through meadows and pastures that you can admire the richness and rarities of Mother Nature: golden buttons, martagon lily, red lily, gentians, myosodiums (don’t forget me), cornflowers and carnations, yarrow, primroses … and then those whose root is found in schnapps, such as gentian or rue.

During your walks and hikes, keep one of the many pocket guides dedicated to mountain flowers within reach: discovering their names will also make you discover how numerous, beautiful and particular they are.