Dinosaur tracks found near Olympic venues in Italy : NPR
One of the Alpine rock faces in northern Italy covered in dinosaur tracks, 210 million years old.
Milan Natural History Museum
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Milan Natural History Museum
Have you ever watched the Olympics and thought “it would be better with a hint of dinosaurs?” » Well, you’re in luck.
On Tuesday, Italian authorities announced the discovery of thousands of dinosaur tracks on “nearly vertical dolomite walls” in Stelvio National Park, a protected area in the central Alps of northern Italy.
The footprints were found high in the mountains between the towns of Livigno and Bormio, where some of the Winter Olympics will be held in February.
“Just a few weeks before the opening of the Milan-Cortina 2026 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games, this discovery sheds an unexpected and fascinating light on the mountains of Lombardy,” Milan Mayor Giuseppe Sala said in a statement, referring to the northern Italian region of which Milan is the capital.
Italian authorities held a press conference on Tuesday to announce the discovery of thousands of dinosaur footprints in the Stelvio National Park.
Piero Cruciatti/AFP via Getty Images
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Piero Cruciatti/AFP via Getty Images
The 2026 Games are co-hosted by Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo, with competitions spread across around 20 venues across northern Italy. The slopes of Livigno will host freestyle skiing and snowboarding events, while the seaside resort of Bormio will host alpine skiing and the new sport of ski mountaineering.
Scientists determined that the footprints date back about 210 million years, to the Late Triassic period. The Natural History Museum of Milan claims that the “Valley of the Dinosaurs”, approximately 5 km wide, is “the largest site in the Alps and one of the richest in the world”.
Nature photographer Elio Della Ferrara came across dinosaur tracks in September while tracking deer and vultures in the Fraele Valley, an area near Bormio known for its mountainous landscape and artificial lakes.
The Associated Press reports that Della Ferrera’s camera was focused on a vertical rock face about 2,000 feet above the nearest road when something unusual caught her eye. He managed to climb the wall to see the carvings – what he calls “tens of thousands” of them – for himself.
Some of the well-preserved tracks even show claw marks believed to come from prosauropod dinosaurs.
Milan Natural History Museum
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Milan Natural History Museum
“The traces, preserved in excellent condition despite the altitude, show traces of toes and claws printed on the walls when they were mudflats at the end of the Triassic,” specifies the Natural History Museum. This period extended from 252 to 201 million years ago.
Della Ferrara informed authorities of his findings, triggering paleontological research. Preliminary analyzes suggest that most of the tracks came from “herbivorous prosauropod dinosaurs” – long-necked creatures that predate huge sauropods like those depicted in the “Jurassic Park” franchise.
Italian authorities say these are the first dinosaur tracks ever discovered in the Lombardy region, as well as the only finds north of the Insubric Line, a key tectonic boundary that forms the southern edge of the Alps. Dinosaurs would have walked on soft flats that turned into rocks over time as the mountain range was created, experts said at a news conference on Tuesday, according to Reuters.
According to the University of California Museum of Paleontology, various prosauropod fossils have been discovered on most continents, including Asia and the Americas, but especially in Northern Europe (particularly Germany), leading scientists to believe they primarily roamed there.
Olympic rings are visible in January 2025 near a slope at the Stelvio ski center in Bormio, Italy.
Luca Bruno/AP
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Luca Bruno/AP
But there is still much unknown about prosauropods, such as exactly how many subgroups existed and their direct evolutionary relationship with sauropods. Italian officials hope this discovery could provide answers.
“The studies that will continue after the discovery of these footprints will allow us to better understand the history of our planet and the lands we inhabit,” said Sala, the mayor of Milan.
The trail area is not accessible by trails, officials say, meaning researchers will rely on drones and remote sensing technology to study them. It may not be open to the public anytime soon, but it’s cool to think that some Olympic competitors are walking in the shadow of a different kind of legend.
