Madonna by _ is a curated series from visual storytellers who capture Casa Cook and Madonna di Campiglio through their own lens.
Each edition brings a new perspective, a new season and a new style, revealing the many layers of life in the Dolomites. Here, you can experience the destination through their stories.
madonna by
Jen
“Summer in the mountains is absolutely magical, wildflowers, rolling green grass, butterflies and birds everywhere and long warm days to explore it all.”
Meet Featured Curator – Jen from the september chronicles
Jen is an Australian photographer and artist. Simon is her husband and travel partner. Together, as The September Chronicles, they document a life shaped by slow travel, good light and the art of noticing. Usually found somewhere in the UK or Europe (twins in tow, camera in hand) seeking out boutique hotels, beautiful architecture and meals worth remembering.
Her photography is drawn to natural light, calm interiors and the small details that define a place. On a solo summer trip to Casa Cook Madonna, she found both.
When the Mountain Caught the Light
Jen arrived in summer, when Madonna di Campiglio moves at its quietest and most open pace. Long days, warm light and the Brenta Dolomites fully revealed, a different mountain to the one most guests know from winter. The days here open up into the trails and ridgelines above, and down into the valley canyons and clear water below. She spent four days between the peaks and the river, discovering how much there is to explore when the snow is gone.
Jen’s Chronicles
Favourite moment: A picnic near Rifugio Boch, when a herd of cows appeared on the hillside and settled nearby. The sound of the bells. The mountains behind them. Everything still.
Found inspiration in: The long Italian summer light, and the calm of the hotel’s minimal interiors. Rooms designed to frame the views rather than compete with them.
A detail she loved: The lifts. Being able to walk out of the front door and ride straight up into the mountains changed the shape of every day.
From the Peaks to the River
The thing that surprised her most was how easy it all was. She hadn’t expected to walk out of the front door and find a cable car waiting, or to be on a mountain ridge fifteen minutes later. Or for the Dolomites, which she’d heard could be busy, to feel so calm and unhurried. That ease ran through the whole trip.
Her first full day set the tone: a guided hike with Roberto up to a mountain lake, the kind of views that stop conversation, followed that same afternoon by kayaking through the sculpted canyons of Lago di Santa Giustina. High and low in the same day, from one extraordinary landscape straight into another.
Day three took her up to Grosté by cable car, coffee and cake at Rifugio Boch, a picnic hike along the ridge with the mountains largely to herself. The village filled the quieter hours: gelato, chocolate, a wander, cocktails on the terrace back at the hotel as the light shifted off the peaks. A final dinner at Altitude 1.511m. Chef Luca’s slow roasted rabbit. A croissant so good she’s been lobbying him to mail some to London ever since.
The hotel held all of it together. Calm, minimal and genuinely restful, exactly what the end of a long day in the sun asks for.
JEN’s tips:
- Use the guest card – it covers the cable car lifts and local transport, making the mountains effortless to reach.
- Take the lifts for walking routes, not just the views. The trails between the stations are some of the best on the mountain.
- Pre-book your table at Altitude 1.511m, particularly for your last evening.
- Save an afternoon for the spa towards the end of your stay, the right way to ease into the journey home.
- Stop at Casa del Cioccolato for gelato and chocolate, and pick up picnic provisions from Enoteca il Rustivo Ballardini before a day in the mountains.
