I don’t know, but it’s clear that today the mountains are no longer just for those who know how to ski down the slopes. People like me head to Plan de Corones, following the signs to Lumen, AlpiNN, and the Messner Mountain Museum. We are at an altitude of 2,275 meters, reached by taking the cable car from Riscone, in the Puster Valley. Once at the top, in summer, there are meadows and trails; in winter, snow, and always in the background, a crown of mountains to be explained: those are the Dolomites of Lienz, with the Ortles, the Marmolada, and the Zillertal Alps.
Lumen is a spectacular Mountain Photography Museum housed in a modern building. You begin on the top floor, with an elevator simulating an ascent to the summit, then descend to view the early photographers who, with tons of equipment (250 kg!), captured climbs in the late 1800s. The museum showcases both history and the future, with multimedia installations, including a wall that closes like a photographic shutter. It’s an engaging museum that brings the beauty of the mountains closer while having fun (lumenmuseum.it).
Next door is another place connected to the museum: AlpiNN, the “home” of Norbert Niederkofler and Paolo Ferretti, the creators of CARE’s, an event focused on ethical and sustainable cuisine. In the all-glass restaurant designed by Martino Gamper, where beneath each chair is a hook for hanging your ski helmet, Chef Fabio Curreli serves dishes made from ingredients that grow in the mountains, in line with Niederkofler’s Cook the Mountain philosophy. No fish, only spring water (filtered and purified with BWT technology), and dishes like onions cooked in ash, Sasso nero (a cheese), orzotto with dried venison, and a dessert called Pane latte e zucchero (bread, milk, and sugar), which reuses leftover bread as a tribute to the past when bread was dipped in milk for breakfast. The restaurant is a structure suspended over the valley, entirely made of glass. There are many mountain huts, but only one AlpiNN.
Before descending, another visit to the Messner Mountain Museum, designed by Zaha Hadid. It is built in concrete and partly underground. Here too, the view of the mountains through openings always keeps the panorama at the center. You leave the valley with more knowledge of mountaineering, photography, and mountain cuisine. And if you arrive by ski, I don’t know what could be missing to make such a day perfect.