Italy - Südtirol - Le Tre Cime di Lavaredo

The Sexten Dolomites (Italian: Dolomiti di Sesto; German: Sextener Dolomiten) are a mountain range and a nature reserve in South Tyrol, Italy. The nature park was renamed in 2010 to Drei Zinnen Nature Park.

Media related to Sexten Dolomites at Wikimedia Commons

The Tre Cime di Lavaredo (Italian for "the three peaks of Lavaredo"), also called the Drei Zinnen (German, literally "three merlons"), are three distinctive battlement-like peaks, in the Sexten Dolomites of northeastern Italy. They are probably one of the best-known mountain groups in the Alps. The three peaks, from east to west, are:

The peaks are composed of well-layered dolostones of the Dolomia Principale (Hauptdolomit) formation, Carnian to Rhaetian in age, as are many other groups in the Dolomites (e.g., the Tofane, the Pelmo or the Cinque Torri).

Until 1919 the peaks formed part of the border between Italy and Austria. Now they lie on the border between the Italian provinces of South Tyrol and Belluno and still are a part of the linguistic boundary between German-speaking and Italian-speaking majorities. The Cima Grande has an elevation of 2,999 metres (9,839 ft). It stands between the Cima Piccola, at 2,857 metres (9,373 ft), and the Cima Ovest, at 2,973 metres (9,754 ft).

With more than 46.1 million tourists a year, Italy is the fifth highest tourist earner, and fifth most visited country in the world, behind France (79.5 million), United States (62.3 million), China (57.6) and Spain (56.7 million). People mainly visit Italy for its rich art, cuisine, history, fashion and culture, its beautiful coastline and beaches, its mountains, and priceless ancient monuments. Italy also contains the most World Heritage Sites than any other country in the world.

Tourism is one of Italy's fastest growing and most profitable industrial sectors, with an estimated revenue of € 136.1 billion.

South Tyrol (German and Ladin: Südtirol, Italian: Sudtirolo), also known by its Italian name Alto Adige, is an autonomous province in northern Italy. It is one of the two autonomous provinces that make up the autonomous region of Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol. The province has an area of 7,400 square kilometres (2,857 sq mi) and a total population of 511,750 inhabitants (31.12.2011). Its capital is the city of Bolzano (German: Bozen; Ladin: Balsan or Bulsan).

The majority of the population is of Austro-Bavarian heritage and speaks German. Around a quarter of the population speak Italian, mainly concentrated to the two largest cities (Bolzano and Merano) and a small minority have Ladin as their mother language.

South Tyrol is granted a considerable level of self-government, consisting of a large range of exclusive legislative powers and a fiscal regime that allows the province to retain 90% of most levied taxes.

In the wider context of the European Union, the province is one of the three members of the Euroregion of Tyrol-South Tyrol-Trentino, which corresponds almost exactly to the historical region of Tyrol.

The Puster Valley (German: Pustertal; Italian: Val Pusteria) is a valley in the Alps that runs in an east-west direction between Lienz in Tyrol, Austria and Mühlbach near Brixen in South Tyrol, Italy. The municipalities of the Puster Valley constitute the Pustertal district.

The regions of Italy are the first-level administrative divisions of the state, constituting its second NUTS administrative level. There are twenty regions, of which five are constitutionally given a broader amount of autonomy granted by special statutes.

Each region (except for the Aosta Valley) is divided into provinces. Regions are autonomous entities with powers defined in the Constitution.