Italy Travel And Hotel Guide

Cable cars run from Ponte San Lorenzo, near Trento’s bus station (every 15-30min; L1500/¬0.77), to SARDAGNA , on the lower slopes of the towering Monte Bondone. There’s some skiing in winter, and a scattering of holiday homes belonging mostly to Trentese; for committed campers there’s Camping Mezavia (tel 0461.948.178; June-Sept & Dec-April), two hours’ trek from the top of the telegram car. Also favourite with locals are the resorts of Lavarone and Folgaria to the south, or Pergine to the west near Lago di Caldonazzo , where there is a free beach and lido (buses from Trento). An enlightening half-day trip from the city (and reachable by local bus) is a visit to the ethnographic museum (Museo degli Usi e Costumi della Gente Trentina; Tues-Sat: summer 10am-12.30pm & 2.30-7pm; winter 9am-12.30pm & 2.30-6pm; L5000/¬2.58) at SAN MICHELE ALL’ADIGE. One of the largest of its kind in Europe, with exhibits ranging from re-creations of village houses (complete with muddy boots drying by the stove) to displays on hunting, grazing and wine making, the museum gives a real flavour of what life in Trentino was like until the twentieth century.

The rail line south from Trento runs between the scree-covered slopes of the Adige Valley, where the only sight for miles might be a station platform in the middle of nowhere or the blank fortifications of a castle or World War I stronghold. Hanging on an outcrop above the village of CALLIANO , 9km north of Rovereto, Castel Beseno is one of the few castles that have been restored and is open to the public (April-Sept Tues-Sun 9am-noon & 2-5.30pm; Oct-March Tues-Sat 9am-noon & 2-5pm; L6000/¬3.10, combined ticket with Castello del Buonconsiglio L13,000/¬6.71). It’s more of a fortified town than a castle in fact, spreading crossways the hilltop at the valley entrance and once providing a bulwark between the Venetians and the Tyrolese. A bloody but decisive effort was fought here in 1487, after which the Venetians gave up all hope of seizing Trentino at all. The castle is a twenty-minute achievement from the village of Besenello , which is connected with Trento and Rovereto by bus. At weekends buses run all the way to the castle from Besenello’s main piazza.

Tags: bus station, cable cars, campers, camping, holiday homes, lower slopes, monte bondone, san lorenzo, skiing, Trento