San Martino di Castrozza and the Pala Group

San Martino di Castrozza is a locality in the municipality of Primiero San Martino di Castrozza, province of Trento, lying at about 1,450 metres above sea level at the head of the Cismon valley. The settlement occupies a grassland basin bounded to the north-east by the walls of the Pala di San Martino group, the dolomitic massif that includes the plateau of the same name, Cima Rosetta, Cimon della Pala and Cima Vezzana. The place name derives from the Augustinian hospice documented in the area from the twelfth century onwards, a way station along the route linking Primiero to the Fiemme valley over the Rolle pass. The village took its present form as a resort between the late nineteenth century and the first decades of the twentieth, when Central European mountaineering identified the Pala group as ground for systematic ascent. The area falls within the Paneveggio - Pale di San Martino nature park and, since 2009, within the Dolomites serial property inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage list. A system of lifts connects the valley floor to Colverde and to the Rosetta plateau, making the rock belt above two thousand metres accessible.