Signor Porridge is giddy with excitement.
So much so that he barely knows what’s up and what’s down.
All because he’s back in the alps.
The Dolomites, glory of northeastern Italy and a UNESCO world heritage site, once again offer themselves as a playground for our fun-loving friend.
With his ear for languages, Signor Porridge quickly picked up the local dialect of the Romance language, Ladin, spoken in the valleys of the Sella Group in south Tyrol. (He has engaged in discussion with other scholars who argue it extends into adjacent valleys also.) It’s taught in schools, together with German and Italian – languages in which S. Porridge (modestly) professes proficiency.
Signor Porridge is as at ease chatting with academics as he is with local wanderers.
A Porridge-eye view of the magical world of the Dolomites.
The carbonate rock was named after mineralogist Déodat Gratet de Dolomieu who first described it. The colour gives the range its nickname, The Pale Mountains. Coincidentally, Porridge is sometimes referred to as The Pale Rapscallion.
