The magic of "Enrosadira"
When the sun goes down, the pale mountains start to glow in warm red tones
A glorious natural phenomenon awaits every visitor to Alta Badia and one which never ceases to amaze – the “alpenglow”, or “Enrosadira” as we call it in our Ladin language. And, this magic is capable of surprising even the most experienced mountaineer.
In the evening, as the day draws to a close and the shadows lengthen over the valley, the peaks of the Dolomites glow in different tones of red, yellow, pink and orange.
At dawn, a similar experience awaits the early birds, with slightly different colours: first a soft purple to a bright orange.
The Enrosadira changes from day to day and season to season, appearing more spectacular after a recent rainfall, or with added sparkle after snow.
What brings about this optical phenomenon? Scientists will tell you about the specific mineral make-up of the Dolomite rocks and the angle of the sun illuminating the peaks from below the horizon, but the Ladins know better!
The legend of the "Enrosadira"
Long ago, King Laurin, the king of the dwarfs, lived in a beautiful rose garden high up in the mountains. He had all he needed, except for a wife. When he heard that another king was giving a feast for his neighbours and he, Laurin, had not been invited, he decided to go to the feast wearing his magic belt which rendered him invisible. There he saw the king’s beautiful daughter Similde.
Naturally, he could not help but fall in love with Similde and took her back to his rose garden, still wearing his magic belt of invisibility so that her father’s soldiers would not find him. Alas, he might have been invisible, but he gave away his whereabouts each time he trampled on some of his beautiful roses, and the soldiers soon located him and tore off his magic belt.
Poor King Laurin had to surrender Similde, and in his fury, he cursed his beautiful roses with these words: “Henceforth your beauty will be hidden from the human eye both by day and by night.”
And immediately the rocks turned bare, the mountains became barren. But this only happened during the day and at night! Laurin had forgotten the dawn and the dusk, which is why, to this day, his beautiful rose garden can still be admired by all who come to this enchanted part of the Dolomites!