Experimental models scaled for density and viscosity were performed to investigate the effects of indentation obliquity and rheological stratification on the deformation patterns caused by continental indentation. The shape and orientation of the indenter were inspired by the Dolomites indenter of the southern Europeans Alps. The results of our experimental models showed that small changes in the angle of convergence induce marked differences in the patterns of deformation. The only models whose fault patterns satisfyingly reproduced that of the Eastern Alps were characterized by NNE directed motion of the indenter. In these models, E-W extension formed in front of the leading edge of the indenter, as observed in the Eastern Alps along the Brenner extensional fault. Extensional deformation of the models maintained compatibility between the areas located on both sides of the indenter edge, which shortened at different rates and in different directions. Therefore extension was not caused by gravitational instabilities but by the kinematic and geometrical boundary conditions imposed by the indenter shape and the convergence direction. Lateral escape was always modest in our models, reaching a maximum of 20%. This value is much smaller than previous estimates of lateral escape in the Eastern Alps but very close to the amount inferred by our reassessment of Tertiary E-W extension in the Eastern Alps.