Un passo dal cielo: Filming Locations in the Dolomites

Pietro Thiene, the forestry station commander of San Candido, anchors the first five seasons here, in South Tyrol's Alta Pusteria. San Candido has been a market town since 1303 and sits inside the Tre Cime natural park. Even so, the production shot most scenes at other places nearby, so the village is the story's home rather than its main set. Walk its streets for the setting, then follow the route to the lakes and meadows where the cameras actually ran.

Location precision: The series calls the village San Candido (Innichen in German), but most scenes were filmed at other places.

Visitor guidance: A small Dolomites resort town with trains on the Val Pusteria line; start here and move on to Braies and Dobbiaco.

Most of the series was shot at Braies, around the lake of the same name. In 2012 filming ran from May to mid-August between San Candido, Dobbiaco and the lake. The Lago di Braies lies at 1,496 m at the foot of the Croda del Becco, inside the Fanes-Sennes-Braies natural park, so its green water and rock wall stand in for the series' mountain country. It is the single most useful stop for recognising the show's look.

Visitor guidance: Reached by road; the lake sits inside a natural park.

Prato Piazza, with its mountain hut (malga), is another stage for the South Tyrol seasons. It is a pass at 1,993 m joining Braies and Carbonin, on an upland plateau protected by UNESCO. From here the views take in the Croda Rossa d'Ampezzo, the Tre Cime di Lavaredo, the Tofana and Monte Cristallo. For the series it gives the wide alpine meadows behind the forest-ranger stories.

Visitor guidance: A high plateau reached from the Braies side; expect alpine weather.

Dobbiaco supplies two everyday settings for the early seasons: its railway station and the lake around which scenes were recorded. In 2012 the crew worked here together with San Candido and Lake Braies. It is the easiest stop to reach by train from the other South Tyrol locations.

Location precision: The sources name Dobbiaco's railway station and lake but not the exact spots; the pin marks the station.

Visitor guidance: The station is on the railway, a short hop from San Candido.

From season 6 the story moves from South Tyrol to San Vito di Cadore, in the Belluno Dolomites. The police station at the centre of events stands on the shore of Lake Mosigo. Here Vincenzo Nappi and his sister Manuela carry out their investigations, which in season 6 are tied to the mysterious Dafne Mair and a reopened old mine. The lake is the new hub of the show.

Location precision: The sources place the police station on the shore of Lake Mosigo without an exact address; the pin marks the lake.

Visitor guidance: Lakeshore near San Vito di Cadore.

Serdes is a hamlet of San Vito di Cadore, and with the former Vallesella quarry it serves as a secondary location in season 6. The season's plot turns on the reopening of an old mine, so the abandoned quarry fits the mood. The little church of Serdes keeps an altarpiece by Jacopo Da Bassano, a quiet detail beside the series' crime stories.

Location precision: The sources list the village and the old quarry as secondary locations without exact scenes; the pin marks Serdes.

Visitor guidance: Serdes is a small hamlet on the road from San Vito di Cadore; the quarry is a former industrial site, so look from the road.

The Cinque Torri are among the Dolomites locations of season 7, along with Faloria and Passo Giau, and season 8 returns to the Cinque Torri refuge and Faloria. These five rock spurs rise to 2,361 m at the Torre Grande and are made of pale grey dolomite. They give the later seasons their open, high-mountain backdrop above San Vito di Cadore.

Visitor guidance: A well-known viewpoint and refuge area near Cortina d'Ampezzo.

Lago di Misurina appears among the season 7 locations, together with Auronzo, Passo Falzarego and Valparola. At 1,754 m it is the largest natural lake in the Cadore, and the road past it leads on to the Tre Cime di Lavaredo. The climate here is so clear that an asthma clinic for children operated near the lake for about seventy years. It closes the route on a postcard Dolomites view.

Visitor guidance: A lakeside walk at Misurina, reachable by road from Auronzo di Cadore.