Trentino, in Northern Italy, is famous for its beautiful mountains and world class skiing slopes. It’s particularly popular winter destination in Italy, as thousands of Italians flock to its alpine towns to hit the slopes.
But there’s more to Trentino than just some amazing ski opportunities.
I recently teamed up with the Italian National Tourist Board for a “Viaggio Italiano”, a project to discover all the most beautiful small villages in Trentino.
I spent ten days in September travelling across this gorgeous mountain regions, exploring towns like Mezzano, San Lorenzo Dorsino, Luserna, Rango and many more.
Adventuring around the Alps in summer, while discovering some off the beaten track towns was an amazing experience.
In this article I have outlined some of the best things you can do in Trentino, besides skiing! Especially if you’re visiting in summer, this Italian mountain region has plenty of fun outdoors activities to offer you.
Whether you want to go hiking, mountain biking, or generally just spending time in nature, there are lots of places in Trentino where you can do so.
So what are you waiting for, let’s dive in and discover the best of Trentino!
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Awesome things to do in Trentino
Go hiking
I couldn’t write an article about the best things to do in Trentino and not mention the great hiking opportunities. The mountains of Trentino are covered in amazing hiking trails, of all levels of training and difficulty.
Whether you’re searching for a challenging climb or a relaxing stroll in the woods, in Trentino you’ll find trails for your level. Needless to say, the dramatic alpine views are going to be amazing whatever hiking route you choose.
During my Viaggio Italiano I had the pleasure of hiking a variety of different trails. We started off in Mezzano, where we did the Cordognè to San Giovanni loop trail.
It’s a fairly easy hike, which rewards you with stunning views of the Pale di San Martino, one of the most famous mountain sights in Trentino.
It’s an easy 5km loop, with minimal elevation change (around 180m), which can be done in 2 to 2.5 hours.
The trail is very varied, going from sections where you are entirely surrounded by trees to others where you’re strolling through open green fields.
We went hiking also in Vigo di Fassa, where we did the trail from Ciampedie to Gardeccia. In Vigo di Fassa there are countless trails, since there the ski slopes and infrastructure get converted to hiking trails in summer.
You can use the cable cars to reach the top of the mountains, and from there go hiking along the top of the peaks.
The trail we did was very panoramic and fairly easy, but there are trails for all difficulty levels if you want something more challenging.
If you want to do a hike that’s a bit different from the usual, then you have to add the hike to the grottoes of Castello Tesino, near Pieve Tesino, to your Trentino bucket list.
It’s a 3.5 hour hike, of which 1.5 hours are spent inside these unique caves, and you have to do it with a guide.
But dramatic mountain views aren’t the only thing you can expect from hikes in Trentino. In Luserna, in the Alpe Cimbra area of Trentino, you’ll find a variety of thematic trails for every age.
There is a trail called “Sentiero Cimbro dell’Immaginario”, perfect for hiking with children. This 6.6km trail is dotted with beautiful wooden statues, this trail teaches you about the history and legends of this part of Trentino.
Another trail, called “Dalle Storie alla Storia”, is a 5km trail for anyone with an interest in history.
This historic path is marked with historic shapes and statues, which share historical testimonies from local people about the great wars that took place in Europe and throughout these mountains.
In a different part of Trentino, in Rango in the Garda Trentino region, you can find another fun thematic trail, called the “Sentiero della Noce”.
This 7km is dedicated to the “noce bleggiana”, a type of walnut that you can find only in this part of Trentino.
It takes around 2 hours to hike. It’s fairly easy, with little elevation change, and will take you through picturesque towns and villages where the bleggiana walnut still plays a very important role.
Go mountain biking
Similarly to hiking, mountain biking is another great outdoors activity that you can do in Trentino.
Especially with e-bikes, which are becoming increasingly popular, you can discover parts of the mountains that you wouldn’t otherwise reach on foot or by car.
My favourite bike experience that we did in Trentino was the KilometroZero UNESCO Bike Tour that we did in the Terme di Comano area.
It’s a food tasting bike tour, which focuses on local delicacies that have travelled zero kilometres to reach your dining table.
The idea is also that the calorie intake at the end of the day will be zero, as you will have cycled and burned off all the extra calories of the food you taste during the bike tour.
We also had the opportunity to cycle in Vigo di Fassa. Besides the many fun mountain biking trails, in Vigo di Fassa you can also cycle along the 50km cycling lane that goes through the whole Val di Fassa and Val di Fiemme.
It’s a great trail as it has little elevation change, and is easily accessible to all cycling levels.
Whether you want to go on a hard core mountain biking trail, or for a leisurely stroll along the cycling lane, in Vigo di Fassa you have the options to do so.
There is no shortage of beautiful bike trails in Trentino, but another stunning place where you can go cycling is Lago di Tenno. This beautiful turquoise lake is the perfect backdrop for a relaxing cycle through the woods.
Get your adrenaline pumping with adventure activities
Hiking and mountain biking aren’t the only outdoors activities that you can do in Trentino. The mountains offer a huge variety of thrilling activities for the adventure lovers.
In Trentino you can do all sorts of activities like canyoning, horse riding, paragliding, rock climbing, rafting and more. Close to the village of Mezzano, you can go canyoning in the beautiful Val Noana.
Canyoning is a very fun adventure that involves sliding down natural water slides, swimming in pools of crystalline water and climbing along the course of the Noana Torrent.
It’s a fun way to enjoy the beautiful natural landscape from a different angle, and fully immerse yourself in the alpine lakes and rivers.
Rafting isn’t quite as immersive, as you’ll be on a boat instead of swimming through the rivers, but it’s still a very entertaining and thrilling experience.
In Vigo di Fassa they do a lot of paragliding, especially in September. Summer is the popular season for hiking and mountain biking, but early autumn is perfect for paragliding.
The more marked temperature difference between day and night creates stronger air currents, which make it perfect for flying high above Val di Fassa, and enjoying the stunning mountain views.
Another adventurous activity you can’t miss in Trentino is horse riding. We did it at Ranch dei Lupi, near Pieve Tesino, but there are loads of horse riding schools all over Trentino where you can try it.
We did a 2-hour excursion that took us to explore the surrounding mountains, fields and towns.
It’s a great way to see more of the beautiful mountains, but also to do an activity that connects you to nature and another creature.
Discover the medieval mountain “borghi”
But the beautiful mountain scenery and fun outdoors adventures aren’t the only thing to see and do in Trentino.
Trentino is home to some unique mountain villages, and no visit to Trentino would be complete without seeing them.
There’s an official list of the “Borghi più belli d’Italia” (the most beautiful villages in Italy), and quite a few villages in Trentino made the list.
The first village we visited was Mezzano, one of the villages that feature on this list of beautiful borghi in Italy, and it’s easy to see why.
This cute mountain village has the most picturesque streets, and even acts as an open-air museum.
In Mezzano you will find an art display called “Cataste & Canzei”. These are 26 art displays dotted all over the town, made with wooden stacks.
Created by a variety of artists, they’re representative of the long mountain winters of the past, and showcase different aspect of mountain life.
It’s a beautiful village to wander around and discover while you hunt for the 26 art pieces! If you want to learn more about the village, look out for “La Sedia Rossa”, a red chair with a bell next to it.
If you ring the bell, a local will show up and tell you about the history and customs of Mezzano.
Another beautiful village you have to visit in Trentino is San Lorenzo Dorsino. This village is a bit unusual, in that it doesn’t have a defined historic town centre.
Instead, there are multiple centres, as they all used to be separate villages back in the day, which merged into a bigger town over time as population grew.
There is a trail called “Sette passi per le sette ville”, which will take you to explore all the different factions in San Lorenzo.
Besides discovering its gorgeous picturesque streets and rock-lined houses, I loved San Lorenzo as it was very alive. We did a tour called “Il borgo dai mille volti”, and had the opportunity to meet local people while exploring the town.
Meeting first hand people that have lived in San Lorenzo Dorsino their whole life, and hearing their stories about life in the mountains was an amazing experience.
The medieval borgo of Canale di Tenno features on the list of most beautiful borghi in Italy, and it’s easy to see why.
Unlike San Lorenzo Dorsino, which is very spread out, Tenno is very compact and fits the more “traditional” definition of borgo. There are no distinct village walls, but all the medieval houses are very close to each other.
As you enter the borgo, you will feel like you’re stepping back in time. The tiny cobbled streets are entirely pedestrian, with tiny windows and balconies overlooking directly on the street.
The strong medieval feeling that this borgo gives is made even stronger by events they run in the village, like the Rustico Medioevo in August and the Christmas market in winter.
Rango is another traditional medieval borgo, with all the ancient houses and village centre gathered close to each other.
The narrow alleys and cobbled streets are lined with ancient looking doorways and pops of colourful flowers. As you wander around town, you’ll also find a few piazzas with their water fountains.
In Rango you can also see very clearly the traditional architecture of the time. Where the lower levels of the houses were built in stone to preserve heat, and the lofts were built with wood.
This because the upper floors were used to store hay throughout the long winters. The lots were built in wood so that air could enter more easily and the hay could breathe.
Balbido isn’t a very big village, but it’s a pretty special one. Dotted all over the town you will find beautiful murals painted on the walls of ordinary houses.
Some of the murals show scenes of daily mountain life, whilst others depict the legends and stories of this area of Trentino. The murals have turned Balbido into an open-air museum.
Balbido is just a short walk away from Rango. After visiting Rango, you can just walk over to Balbido, and spend some time seeing how many murals you can spot.
Another lovely village we visited was Pieve Tesino, another member of the “Borghi più belli d’Italia” compilation.
It might not be as typical as Tenno and Rango, with their rocky facades and medieval vibes, but it’s still a very picturesque village with its cobbled streets and pastel coloured houses.
It also has a pretty distinctive and unique history, with elements of the past still visible in town. For example, to this day, you can still see the vegetable gardens inside the town, which is typical of this part of Trentino.
Pieve Tesino also played a very important role in the history of the European Union, which you can find out all about at the Casa Museo de Gasperi.
With its beautiful views, stunning mountain scenery and cute streets, it’s easy to see why Luserna is on the list of most beautiful borghi in Italy.
From pretty much everywhere in the town you get awesome views over the valley below. It’s a very scenic town, with a lot to offer also from a historical and cultural point of view.
In Luserna you can visit a really interesting Casa Museo, as well as the Centro Documentazione (more on that in a bit!) It’s a great village to visit if, besides seeing a pretty town, you also want to learn about the history of this area.
Vigo di Fassa isn’t on the list of the most beautiful borghi in Italy, but that doesn’t make it any less worthy of a visit. The village itself is very pretty, but the main selling point are the stunning mountains that surround it.
In Vigo di Fassa you can spend some time wandering the streets of this cute village, and then head into the mountains for some awesome outdoors adventures.
In this village you’ll also find cable cars and ski slopes. Whether you’re visiting in summer or winter, you’ll always find some fun outdoors adventures waiting for you in Vigo di Fassa.
Learn about the history of Trentino
When you’re in a place of such stunning natural beauty, it’s tempting to just stick to outdoors adventures, without really learning much about the history and culture of it.
Trentino has a very strong cultural identity and a very important history, which you should learn about if you visit this popular Italian region.
We visited a number of museums during our Viaggio Italiano, but the one that most stood out to me was the Casa Museo de Gasperi.
Built in the house where Alcide de Gasperi was born, this museum is dedicated to educating visitors about the life and views of Alcide de Gasperi, one of the Founding Fathers of the European Union.
Seeing how growing up in a small mountain village, of what at the time was still the Austro-Hungarian Empire, influenced the political views and decisions of Alcide de Gasperi was fascinating.
Always in Pieve Tesino, there’s another fascinating museum, called the Museo Per Via. The museum tells the story of how, in the late 1800s, the people from Tesino used to travel all over Europe selling prints.
Seeing what life was like back in the day, and the history of these travelling salesmen is really interesting, as its not the typical job you’d think people from a small mountain village would be doing.
Another really interesting museum was the Museo Ladin de Fascia, in Vigo di Fassa. It’s an interactive museum dedicated to the “Ladino” community (the people that live in that part of Trentino).
Starting all the way back in prehistoric times, and looking at how societies, beliefs, languages, religions and traditions have developed over the centuries.
If you want to go back all the way to the prehistoric times, there’s a fascinating museum close to Rango; the Museo delle Palafitte di Fiavè.
This museum is divided in three parts; the actual Museum, the Parco Archeo Natura and the archeological area.
All three parts are dedicated to ancient dwellings on stilts that were found in the area, which date as far back as 3,800 BCE.
In the archeological area you can see the remaining stilts that were discovered, whilst in the Parco Archeo Natura you can see reconstructions of what they used to look like.
In the Museum you will find more detailed information about the research that was carried out to uncover them and the societies that lived there. You should visit all three for a complete experience and understanding.
Luserna, in the Alpe Cimbra, is a small village, but with a rich history and many museums to highlight it.
In Luserna you can visit the “Centro Documentazione Luserna”, which has lots of different and interesting exhibitions, both permanent and temporary.
From exhibitions about World War I to displays on wild cats, or from exhibitions about life in Luserna in the past to photo displays of jobs that no longer exist, the “Centro Documentazione Luserna” is a great place to learn lots of different things.
In Luserna you’ll also find the Casa Museo Haus Von Prükk, a house from the 1800s that was preserved and is kept perfectly intact.
That way visitors can see exactly the layout of houses back then, as well as the sort of furniture and tools they kept.
It offers a valuable insight into the daily life of mountain life in the past, in a very authentic manner. There are no reconstructions here, just the genuine house of the time maintained to show a glimpse into historical daily life.
It was so interesting to see how, despite all being part of the same Italian region, different mountain areas developed such strong personal identities, which are still observed to this day.
Seeing the marked difference in dress, behaviour and especially language between Tesino, Ladino and Cimbre, is something I wasn’t expecting.
Discover the delicious local cuisine
Another big part of local culture and identity comes with the cuisine.
In Trentino you can eat pasta and pizza like everywhere else in Italy, but you should definitely try some of the traditional dishes that are specific only to this region.
And if that isn’t local enough, there are certain foods that are only made in specific towns or valleys of Trentino.
For example, in San Lorenzo Dorsino we had the pleasure of trying ciuìga, a type of salami only made in this village.
Back in the day it was made with pork scraps and turnips, since it was filling, cheap, and meant that no food was thrown out.
Today the recipe is a little different, with higher quality pork meat and a higher pork to turnip ratio. It’s a recipe unique to San Lorenzo Dorsino, and is made nowhere else in Italy or the world.
It has a strong unique flavour, and is a must-try when you visit San Lorenzo Dorsino!
Similarly, in Vigo di Fassa we had the pleasure of trying the cheese “Puzzone di Moena”. It’s original from Moena, a village near Vigo di Fassa, but it’s a popular product in the whole Val di Fassa valley.
As the name suggests, it’s a very strong cheese with a pungent smell.
In general the cuisine in Trentino is characterised by very hearty and warm dishes, as that’s the food that had to keep people going through the long and cold winter days in the past.
Today, it’s a great insight into what life in the mountains was like back then.
Some of the local dishes that you can taste in Trentino include canederli, big round dumplings with bread, cheese and speck, potatotortel, sort of like potato pancakes, polenta, warm soups and deer.
It’s a cuisine that reflects how harsh winters used to be in the mountains (quite different from mild Italian winters in the rest of the country).
It reflects a time when nothing was thrown out, and even scraps were turned into delicacies, and when a big hearty meal had to you give you energy for a long day working the mountain fields.
Final thoughts on the best things to do in Trentino
There you have it, the ultimate guide to the best things to do in Trentino, which don’t involve skiing or snow sports! Have you been to Trentino before? How did you find it? Let me know in the comments below!
Growing up in Milan, I spent most of my childhood skiing in Trentino, but it wasn’t till a recent summer trip to Trentino that I started appreciating the beauty of the mountains during the Italian summer months.
I’m very glad I was able to participate in this Viaggio Italiano, as it allowed me to explored some beautiful off the beaten track Italianborghi. Trentino is a region I thought I knew well already, but I discovered so much more beyond what I already knew.
Trentino is a stunning region, with beautiful mountain landscapes, picturesque medieval villages and a rich history and culture.
I hope you will find this guide useful in planning your Italy itinerary, and that it made you want to add Trentino to your Italy bucket list!
Disclaimer: This article was written in collaboration with iambassador for the ‘Viaggio Italiano’ Project (Italian National Tourist Board, Ministry of Tourism & Conference of Regions and Autonomous Provinces)
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