Hundreds of visitors have been crowding the Friedrich August refuge at 2,300 metres in the Italian Dolomites, drawn by krapfen pastries that sell out within hours each morning. The refuge, located between Col Rodella and Passo Sella in Val di Fassa, has been making the doughnuts for decades, but social-media attention has turned a quiet tradition into chaos, with videos showing queues of up to 300 hikers. Some visitors have been rising before dawn or camping nearby to secure a pastry, priced at up to €4 each.
Francesco Abbruscato, president of the Veneto branch of the Italian Alpine Club, said overtourism in the Dolomites is a relatively new phenomenon of the last five or six years. The pressures have prompted local responses: the municipality of Funes restricted access to the Santa Maddalena church, and farmers installed a toll gate on the Odle trail in protest.
A similar social-media-driven surge hit the resort of Roccaraso in Abruzzo in January 2025. The broader region saw visitors spend over 5.28 million nights in Val di Fassa in 2025, while Italian mountain tourism generated €12 billion in turnover in the 2024/25 season.