Val di Funes and Santa Maddalena
The little church in front of the Odle
East of Chiusa, in the Valle Isarco, the Val di Funes (Villnöss) is a quiet, rural valley of meadows, farms and woods, closed at its head by one of the most spectacular sights of the Dolomites: the jagged wall of the Odle (Geisler), a series of vertical rock towers that look like the teeth of a saw or the pipes of a giant organ, part of the Puez-Odle Natural Park and the Dolomites UNESCO site. The valley is the home of the most famous mountaineer in the world, Reinhold Messner, who grew up here and began climbing on these very peaks.
The postcard image of the valley is the small church of Santa Maddalena (St. Magdalena), with its white walls and onion-shaped bell tower, surrounded by green meadows, with the Odle rising behind it: one of the most photographed views of the Alps, especially in autumn, when the larches turn golden, and at sunset. A few kilometres away, the small baroque church of San Giovanni in Ranui (St. Johann in Ranui), built in 1744 in the middle of a meadow at the foot of the Odle, is another iconic image; it belongs to a private farm and can be visited at certain times. The valley offers many hikes, such as the Adolf Munkel Trail, which runs at the foot of the Odle walls through woods and pastures, with huts such as the Geisleralm and the Gschnagenhardt Alm, where you can taste the specialities of the valley, including the famous Villnösser Brillenschaf, a local breed of sheep with "spectacles".
Tip: the viewpoint of Santa Maddalena can be reached by a short walk from the village; respect the private meadows and use the official paths.
Where it is
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