Lakes, mountains, castles and apples along the Val di Non

In summer and winter, but also in the mid-seasons, Molveno is an excellent starting point for an itinerary heading north, beyond Gampen Pass/Gampen Joch, where the alpine geography remains that of the Val di Non. Here in Molveno, you are still in an area that has always been Italian-speaking and not too high, well below 1000 meters despite the proximity of the Dolomites of Brenta, in a village that is so well-equipped that it deserves the Orange Flag award of the Touring Club Italiano.

In summer, the main attraction is Lake Molveno, which encourages even those who are out of practice to go for a walk: a complete tour takes no more than three hours and is about 10 kilometres long, with no difference in altitude. A popular destination is the Rifugio Croz dell'Altissimo (Croz of the Altissimo Lodge), which can be reached in a couple of hours, about 600 metres higher up in the Adamello-Brenta Nature Park. The refuge can be part of an evocative longer tour in the Valle delle Seghe valley back to the lake, perhaps letting the cable car that connects the village with the locality of Pradèl help you up a good part of the climb. In winter, Molveno can serve as a base for the imposing ski facilities on the mountain of Paganella, although cable cars and chairlifts ascend from nearby Àndalo.

Driving up from Àndalo, the SS43 of the Val di Non leaves the entrance to the provincial road on the right, which soon leads to one of the most important castles in Trentino. Its location is elevated and scenic, as if to enshrine the family's historical dominance over the local geography. This castle is located in the region of Ton, but historical Thun buildings are still scattered throughout Bohemia and concentrated in Prague, where the most important Thun Palace is the seat of the Italian Embassy in the Czech Republic. The bulk of the building is imposing and austere, with a complex system of fortifications around it consisting of towers, walls, ramparts, patrol trenches and moats. All this protects the Palazzo Comitale in the centre, with vast interiors with centuries-old furnishings, entire walls in fine wood and paintings from the picture gallery. 

A similar visit can be made to Buonconsiglio Castle in Trento itself, which with Castel Stenico, Castel Caldes, Castel Beseno and, of course, Castel Thun completes the series for which Trentino can be envied in terms of art fortresses. Now the route continues towards the apple trees of Tassullo and the capital Cles.

A stop at Cles and its splendid castle is a must, and you can reach the panoramic terrace in the town to admire and photograph the lake from above or, if you are sporty, choose it as a base for kayaking adventures or along walkways, canyons and waterfalls offered by the Novella River Park on the north side. Cles has an absolutely fascinating and indeed quite famous body of water, some fifteen kilometres away and at an altitude of almost 1,200 metres: this is Lake Tovel. You can get there by taking the SP 73 for Tuenno and continuing on provincial road 14.

To reach this fairytale place of worship, you have to leave the Val di Non state road at the height of Sanzeno and climb for about ten kilometres. It is certainly worth it, but only after having seen Coredo and above all having understood something more about the history of the area by carefully visiting the modern Rhaetian Museum complex in Sanzeno. Rhaetia, from which the Rhaetian Alps take their name from the Splügen Pass to the Brenner Pass, was the region inhabited in Roman times by the Rhaetian people, encompassing both sides of the Alps between what are now South Tyrol, southern Bavaria and parts of Switzerland and western Austria. The museum in Sanzeno focuses on archaeological themes but is in fact part of a constellation of exhibition initiatives organised throughout the Trentino region. In this archaic world, the hermit figure of Romedius is said to have stepped in at the dawn of Christianity, which his shrine still bears witness to. For those who go up from Sanzeno to the state road towards Fondo, a stretch of the high Val di Non opens up from here that will accompany you beyond the Gampen Pass/Gampen Joch.

Here, too, came the boundless passion for the mountains of that lord of the peaks, Reinhold Messner. A wartime engineering work such as the bunker at the Palade became an underground museum thanks to him.