ItalyUpdate

With the entrance into the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites of Italys craggy Dolomite mountain range, Italy now boasts 44 listings and continues to be the nation endowed with the greatest number of  cultural, scenic and artistic sites, patrimony of the world.

Spain comes second with 40 sites, followed by China with 37 sites.

The Dolomites consist of nine mountain groups, extending over a total area of 231,000 hectares, spread over the provinces of Trento, Bolzano, Belluno, Pordenone and Udine. The range evolved from a coral barrier 230 million years ago, pushed up by the continental drift, and contain fossils and priceless geological evidence of the history of the Earth.