Rumble: King Laurin and his Rose Garden

One of the sagas from this region explains why the Rosengarten ("Rose Garden"), an imposing Dolomite chain which dominates the scenery to the west of Bolzano, glows pink at dusk.

Once-upon-a-time, there was a magnificent rose garden high among the grey rocks, which belonged to the mighty dwarf King Laurin. He owned immense riches, but still his rose garden was the most dearest of his treasures. King Laurin protected it with golden thread of silk and anyone who touched even a single rose, could count on a punishment beyond imagination.

King Laurin fell hopelessly in love with a princess called Similde, so much that he abducted her. When her father's soldiers came to rescue her, Laurin camouflaged himself and hid among the roses, where he thought to be invisible. In vain, though, as the knights discovered his whereabouts and trampled all the roses to catch him. Led into captivity, King Laurin, in a rage over his fate, turned and put a curse on the rose garden; "Neither by day nor by night would human eyes ever again behold its beauty".

However, he forgot dusk, which is why, even up to today, the rocks glow pink as the roses blossom in the glow of the rising or setting sun.

Source: Rosengarten-Latemar