Archaeology

Triassic Park, the 'valley of the dinosaurs' between Livigno and Bormio: thousands of footprints discovered for hundreds of metres

'A truly exceptional discovery. A gift that history makes to the Olympics and Paralympics,' said the President of the Region, Attilio Fontana

16 December 2025

Orme di Prosauropodi risalenti al Triassico Superiore, fotografate nel nuovo sito paleontologico scoperto da Elio Della Ferrera. Valle di Fraele, Parco dello Stelvio, Valdidentro, Provincia di Sondrio, Lombardia, Italia.

3' min read

Translated by AI

Versione italiana

3' min read

Translated by AI

Versione italiana

In the heart of the Alps in the Fraele Valley between Livigno and Bormio, last September a nature photographer spotted hundreds of metres long dinosaur tracks on extensive, almost vertical dolomite walls, evidence of a past dating back more than 200 million years.

The footprints, preserved in excellent condition despite the altitude, show traces of fingers and claws imprinted on tidal flats at the end of the Triassic. The area is not accessible by footpaths, so drones and remote sensing technology will have to be used to study them.

The photos, geo-palaeontological evidence and videos taken by the Carabinieri "Stelvio Park" Unit in Valdidentro were presented today for the first time during the press conference "Triassic Park: thousands of dinosaur footprints discovered in the Stelvio National Park", at Palazzo Lombardia.

'A truly exceptional discovery. A gift that history makes to the Olympics and the Paralympics - said the President of the Region, Attilio Fontana -, the testimony of a past that dates back over 200 million years and that shows how, in the heart of the Alps, between Livigno and Bormio, the traces of dinosaur fingers and claws are preserved, imprinted on tidal flats at the end of the Triassic period".

Parco dello Stelvio, scoperte migliaia di orme di dinosauro
Photogallery18 foto

The most important deposit of Triassic trace fossils in Europe

According to analyses by the Natural History Museum in Milan and the University of Bergamo, on behalf of the Stelvio National Park, this represents the most important deposit of fossil traces from the Triassic period in Europe. The discovery takes on an even deeper significance because it occurs on the eve of a world event such as the Olympics, which will have one of the main competition centres in this area.

"It is a veritable 'valley of the dinosaurs' that stretches for kilometres: it is the largest site in the Alps and one of the richest in the world," said paleontologist Cristiano Dal Sasso of the Museum of Natural History in Milan. 'This is probably the most important palaeontological discovery about Italian dinosaurs since the one in Ciro,' explained Dal Sasso.

These specimens moved along the shores lapped by the warm waters of the Tethys Ocean, in an environment similar to those of today's tropical areas, with tidal plains that were lost on the horizon for hundreds of kilometres. The current near-vertical position of the footprints is not the original one, but is a consequence of the deformations that led to the uplift of the Alpine chain. The discovery, which brings the Valtellina Alps into the limelight less than two months before the start of the Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics, was made by nature photographer Elio Della Ferrera, who was in the Fraele Valley on 14 September to photograph deer and lammergeyers. During the excursion, he noticed the outcropping footprints (some of which were up to 40 centimetres in diameter) and took the first pictures, which were immediately sent to palaeontologist Dal Sasso and the Superintendency.

According to initial analyses, the footprints may belong to prosauropod dinosaurs of the Upper Triassic, i.e. long-necked, small-headed herbivores that are considered to be the ancestors of large Jurassic sauropods such as the brontosaurus. Of robust build, prosauropods possessed sharp claws on both hands and feet. In some species, adults could reach up to 10 metres in length. The skeletons of several specimens have been found in both Switzerland and Germany.