What is Rocca Pietore known for?

The 3,343-meter queen of the Dolomites, with the glacier and Punta Rocca cable car on the commune's territory. Two-kilometer gorge of the Pettorina torrent, walls over 100 meters high, destroyed by Storm Vaia and rebuilt in stages from 2023. Small republic under the County of Tyrol and the Brixen bishopric for four centuries, dissolved by Napoleon.

Where is Rocca Pietore?

Rocca Pietore is a comune in the province of Belluno, Veneto region of Italy, about 71 kilometers from Bolzano.

Veneto · Belluno

Rocca Pietore

An Agordino borgo at 1,143 meters under the Marmolada, where the Pettorina cuts a two-kilometer gorge through 100-meter rock walls.

1143m

Elevation

71 km / 44 mi

Nearest hub (Bolzano)

1,149

Population

Jun–Sep, Dec–Mar

Best time to visit

Recognised as

Why come

Rocca Pietore sits at 1,143 meters in the Val Pettorina, the upper Agordino valley that runs west from Belluno to the foot of the Marmolada, the 3,343-meter queen of the Dolomites that the commune shares with Trentino. The borgo was a Lombard military outpost, then for nearly four centuries the seat of the Magnifica Comunità della Rocca, a small republic under the County of Tyrol and the bishopric of Brixen until Napoleon dissolved it. The frazione of Sottoguda joined the Borghi più belli d'Italia in 2016, and the commune carried the Bandiera Arancione from 2018. The Serrai di Sottoguda gorge runs two kilometers between the village and Malga Ciapela, walls over 100 meters high, cut by the Pettorina torrent. Storm Vaia destroyed the path in 2018 and again in 2020; it reopened in stages from 2023. The cable car from Malga Ciapela climbs to Punta Rocca at 3,269 meters, the only way up to the Marmolada glacier.

The slow-trip planner

Building a trip? Find where Rocca Pietore fits in a slow Italy circuit.

Answer five questions. We will shape a geographically coherent slow trip from the 1,000 Italian towns most travelers skip. Yours to save and share.

Plan your trip

Gallery

5 photos · scroll →

Known for

Marmolada
3,343-meter peak shared with Trentino, the highest of the Dolomites, with cable car access from Malga Ciapela to Punta Rocca at 3,269 meters.
Serrai di Sottoguda
Two-kilometer gorge cut by the Pettorina torrent between walls over 100 meters high, reopened in stages from 2023 after damage from Storm Vaia.
Sottoguda
Frazione at 1,250 meters joined to the Borghi più belli d'Italia in 2016, with the fifteenth-century Church of Saints Fabian, Sebastian and Roch.
Chiesa di Santa Maria Maddalena
Parish church on the rock above the borgo, seat of the Magnifica Comunità della Rocca through the centuries of Tyrolean rule.
Ski Marmolada
Twelve-kilometer Bellunese run from Punta Rocca down to Malga Ciapela on the glacier, part of the Dolomiti Superski circuit.

When to visit

Best months · Jun–Sep, Dec–Mar

Best
Hot or crowded
Quiet
Mostly closed

December through March is the working season: the Marmolada glacier opens for skiing, the Bellunese run drops twelve kilometers from Punta Rocca to Malga Ciapela, and hotels in the village fill. June through September is the second season, walking the reopened Serrai, hiking on the Marmolada and the Padon ridge across the Fedaia, and visiting the First World War positions near the glacier. April, May, October and November are quiet. The lifts close, many hotels close, the gorge can flood. Snow can fall into May at altitude. The Marmolada south wall looks largest in October, when the larches turn gold against the gray rock above Malga Ciapela.