Peace Trail

Peace Trail
250px Military installations at the Dolomites
Length	500 km (311 mi)
Location	South Tirol
Use	Hiking, Mountain-Bike
Elevation
Highest point	Marmolata
Lowest point	Kaltern an der Weinstraße
Hiking details
Trail difficulty	Moderate to Strenuous
Season	parts year-round

The Peace Trail, or Peace Pathway, it. Sentiero della Pace, is an Alpine hiking trail in the South-Tyrolian and Italian Dolomites. It follows former military trails of the First World Wars southern front and is one of the most important alpine long distance hiking trails in Italy.

The Peace Trail partially overlaps with other Domitian alpine hiking trails and reaches a total length of about 500 km. It starts in the Sextenian Dolomite's, passes along the Swiss border at the Stelvio Pass and descents into the Etsch Valley close to Trento. The higher-most parts lie above the 3000 m limit.

History

Between 1915 and 1917 heavy fights took place in the high Alpine areas of the Dolomites between Italian and Austrian-German forces. Many of the military installations of that time are still visible today, fortifications, loopholes in rocks, rusty remnants of grenades. But the military trails themselves started to decay and become impassable after decades.

The idea to preserve the old military trails and installations as part of a reconciliation project between Tyrol and Italy started soon after the Gruber–De Gasperi Agreement (1946). The agreement intended to lead to more autonomy for South Tyrol, which had been separated from Austria in 1919.

Today the trail is a popular destination for hikers, mountain-bikers and other tourists and a painful reminiscence of the war in the Alpine areas.