Too popular: South Tyrolean village blocks selfie tourism

Small emoji, big impact; the mountain village of Sankt Magdalena in South Tyrol can no longer save itself from visitors. The last measure: selfie hunters are blocked from their favorite motif.

Visitors can find postcard motifs in many places in the Dolomites. Japanese and Chinese people claim to have discovered the model for the WhatsApp mountain emoji 🏞️ in the Villnöss Valley - in the Geislerspitzen mountain group. And so every year they make a pilgrimage to the small mountain village of Sankt Magdalena with its 370 inhabitants to take a photo of the church of St. Magdalena against the backdrop of the Dolomites. Up to three tourists per inhabitant visit the village every day.

Municipality reacts with barriers

Now the locals have had enough of the onslaught, as Mayor Peter Pernthaler told the daily newspaper Corriere dell'Alto Adige "Groups of Chinese and Japanese are flooding the valley, parking everywhere and only staying to take a few photos. They leave nothing behind but their garbage".

After several meetings with the tourism association, it was therefore decided to close the roads to the St. Magdalena fraction for the season from May to November 2026 - only locals and overnight guests will be allowed to pass. Day visitors have to walk 15 minutes to the selfie hotspot. A barrier with cameras is to enforce the regulations.

Protective measures for the jewel of the Dolomites

The residents' criticism is clear. Some are already considering leaving the village. The former idyll threatens to become a "dead open-air museum" over which the selfie culture hovers. But the community is fighting for its gem - in the hope that Sankt Magdalena will once again become a place where the mountains are the main attraction and not just a backdrop for selfies.