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his,” says Dr. Nössing, and his sunburnt face lights up when he triumphantly holds up the brochure, “this is one of a kind in the world: a geological publication in, believe it or not, four languages – that you will find nowhere else.” Dr. Nössing and his colleague, a young, perfectly German and Italian-speaking geologist, have just bidden farewell to about 40 participants on the last guided adventure hike on Geotrail of Bulla, and now let the exciting afternoon come to a close in the restaurant of Hotel Pinei. Yes, indeed: even after his long and very successful life serving geology, Dr. Nössing, former chief geologist of the Autonomous Province of Bolzano who retired last year, still gets carried away with excitement when talking about the Geotrail of Bulla.
Text: Silvia Rier Photo: Helmuth Rier
10 ALPE | Summer
Bulla is one of the three Ladin-speaking hamlets of the municipality of Castelrotto and lies rather isolated beyond Pinei Pass (1,437m). Since time immemorial this has been the cultural and language borderline within Castelrotto: here German language and customs prevail, there Ladin or Rhaeto-Romanic. In previous centuries the hamlet of Bulla with its population of 180 was of quite some standing, since two important Alpine paths from
Castelrotto and Gardena Valley intersected here. Pinei Pass itself has a lot of mountain pasture characteristics: particularly the unique scent, drawn by warm summer rays from the sparse, thin Alpine grass with its numerous, curative herbs, is potentially addictive and pure happiness. So here, on this passage, serving as both a separating and a connecting element between two culture groups, starts the geological adventure path Geo trail of Bulla, which opened in summer 2011 after a 2-year construction period. How did this come about? And why here, on the edge of the Sciliar Nature Reserve and the Dolomites UNESCO Natural World Heritage Site? Dr. Nössing smiles wistfully. “The road builder’s sorrow is sometimes the geologist’s joy,” he says, and describes that the old road to Bulla was built on very weathered, unstable ground and had to be moved. Until that point in time the rather forbidding rocky landscape at the Bullaccia foothills was already worldwide renowned and much visited – but only in scientific and geological professional circles. What was it that drew the experts from all corners of the world to Bulla, this very contemplative and inaccessible mountain village, beautiful though it is? “This,”