Tre Cime di Lavaredo Site Features

The three peaks

Cima Grande, the tallest of the three at 2,999 meters, sits between the slightly lower Cima Ovest and Cima Piccola -- together their sheer, near-identical vertical faces are what make the formation instantly recognizable even to visitors who don't know the peaks by name.

World War I remnants

Trenches, gun emplacements, and tunnels dug into the rock during the Italian-Austrian front line of World War I remain visible along paths around the base, including a section of tunnel that can be walked through as part of the loop.

Rifugio Locatelli

On the north side of the loop, Rifugio Locatelli (Drei Zinnen Hütte) looks directly across at the three peaks' most photographed profile, with the small Lago dei Piani nearby adding a reflection of the towers on still days.

The peaks rise from the Sesto/Sexten Dolomites, part of the wider Dolomites range along Italy's border with Austria, in a section of mountains known for exactly this kind of abrupt vertical relief rather than gradual slopes.

The relatively flat alpine plateau surrounding the peaks' base is what makes the roughly 10-kilometer loop trail possible without technical climbing, in contrast to the sheer faces themselves.