The Tre Cime di Lavaredo (Italian for 'Three Peaks of Lavaredo'), also called the Drei Zinnen (German for 'Three Merlons')), are three distinctive battlement-like peaks, in the Sexten Dolomites of northeastern Italy. They are one of the best-known mountain groups in the Alps. The three peaks, from east to west, are:

• Cima Piccola / Kleine Zinne ("little peak")
• Cima Grande / Große Zinne ("big peak")
• Cima Ovest / Westliche Zinne ("western peak").

The peaks are composed of well-layered dolomites of the Dolomia Principale (Hauptdolomit) formation, Carnian to Rhaetian in age, as are many other groups in the Dolomites(e.g., the Tofane, the Pelmo or the Cinque Torri)

Until 1919 the peaks formed part of the border between Italy and Austria-Hungary. Now they lie on the border between the Italian provinces of South Tyrol and Belluno and still are a part of the linguistic boundary between German-speaking and Italian-speaking majorities. The Cima Grande has an elevation of 2,999 metres (9,839 ft). It stands between the Cima Piccola, at 2,857 metres (9,373 ft), and the Cima Ovest, at 2,973 metres (9,754 ft).

We knew that we had to get there early to get a parking slot next to Rifugio Auronzo, so left Corvara at 6 a.m. We arrived at the foot of the 6-km road to Rifugio Auronzo at 7-30 a.m., only to be told that we could not drive up unless we had a reservation. It seems that you have to go online at https://auronzo.info at least 3 days before to get a reservation. We hastily turned around and parked in the adjacent car park, paying Euro 14 for the day. We bought 4 tickets for the bus at Euro 10 each, and joined the queue. The queue was at least 100 people long and the buses were every half-hour! We were not impressed! It was not a good start to what we expected to be an exceptional day's walking. However the buses were quite large and took upto 80 people, so we managed to get on to the second bus. The road up to Rifugio Auronzo is steep and twisty; on reflection we were glad that we did not drive up after all. It was just after 9 o'clock that we got off the bus and made our way to Rifugio Auronzo for breakfast.

Courtesy of Wikipedia