★ History and art · Bolzano and aroundBolzanoA castle on a crag at the mouth of the Sarentino valley, half an hour's walk from the centre of Bolzano, its walls covered in medieval frescoes.
The storyAround 1400 the Vintler brothers, wealthy Bolzano merchants, bought the castle and had it frescoed not with sacred stories but with court life: Tristan and Isolde, the Knights of the Round Table, tournaments, hunts, dances, games and the fashions of the day. It is the largest cycle of secular medieval frescoes to have survived. Emperor Maximilian I, fascinated, had it restored and called it 'the illustrated castle'.
Full page, why go and what's nearby →★ Town · Merano and the Venosta valleyGlorenzaOne of the smallest towns in the Alps, with fewer than a thousand inhabitants, enclosed by intact 16th-century walls with towers and three gates.
The storyGlorenza gained town status in the 13th century thanks to the salt trade on the road to Switzerland. After it was sacked in 1499, Emperor Maximilian I had it rebuilt with the walls you still see today, along with the low arcades of the main street. Just above, at 1,340 metres, stands Marienberg Abbey, the highest Benedictine abbey in Europe, with a crypt frescoed in the 12th century.
Full page, why go and what's nearby →★ History and art · Merano and the Venosta valleyCuron VenostaA Romanesque bell tower rising from the waters of Lake Resia, near the border with Austria and Switzerland.
The storyIn 1950 a dam joined two natural lakes and flooded the old village of Curon and part of Resia. The houses were blown up and the inhabitants had to move higher up; only the 14th-century bell tower remained, now the symbol of the valley. In winter, when the lake freezes, you can walk out to it.
Full page, why go and what's nearby →★ Nature · Gardena, Fassa and the DolomitesPredazzoA great spruce forest at the foot of the Pale di San Martino, in the Paneveggio natural park, with a deer enclosure and woodland trails.
The storyIt is called the 'forest of violins': spruces that grow slowly at altitude have light, elastic wood that transmits sound exceptionally well and is used for the soundboards of string instruments. Tradition has it that Antonio Stradivari came here to choose his wood. In 2018 Storm Vaia brought down many trees, and the forest is slowly regenerating.
Full page, why go and what's nearby →★ Town · Eisack Valley and Puster ValleyChiusaA village squeezed between the Isarco river and the rock, overlooked by the monastery of Sabiona, perched on a crag.
The storySabiona was the region's first bishopric, before the bishops moved to Bressanone. In 1494 the young Albrecht Dürer, travelling to Venice, drew the village, which then appears in the background of his famous engraving 'Nemesis'. In the 19th century Chiusa became a painters' colony, drawn by its medieval look.
Full page, why go and what's nearby →★ Nature · Trento, Rovereto and ValsuganaBorgo ValsuganaA trail through the woods of the Val di Sella with works of art made of wood, stones, branches and leaves, which nature slowly transforms.
The storyIn 1986 a group of friends invited artists to create works in the woods using only natural materials and accepting that they would decompose over time. Since then artists from all over the world have worked here. The most famous piece, Giuliano Mauri's Vegetal Cathedral, is a nave of hornbeams growing inside structures of woven branches. In 2018 Storm Vaia destroyed many works, and the place has been reborn.
Full page, why go and what's nearby →★ Nature · Trentino's Lake Garda, the Brenta and the Non valleyVille d'AnauniaAn alpine lake in the Adamello-Brenta park, of a crystal-clear turquoise, among woods and the walls of the Brenta Dolomites.
The storyUntil 1964 the lake turned blood-red every summer: it was a microalga that thrived in the heat. Legend told instead of a princess, Tresenga, who refused to marry a king and died in battle with her people, staining the lake with blood. Then, owing to changes in the water, the phenomenon stopped altogether.
Full page, why go and what's nearby →★ History and art · Trentino's Lake Garda, the Brenta and the Non valleySanzenoA sanctuary built on a rock spur at the end of a gorge in the Non valley: five churches stacked one above the other, linked by a stairway of more than a hundred steps.
The storyAccording to tradition Romedius, a nobleman turned hermit, lived here with a tame bear: when the animal killed his horse, the saint tamed it and rode it instead. That is why next to the sanctuary there is an enclosure where bears rescued from captivity are kept. The path from Sanzeno follows the gorge for about an hour.
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