Wandering through the Val Venosta

After wandering around Austria for a while we stop in South Tyrol for a bit of rest and relaxation; excellent was the choice of a B&B for the overnight stays and then many lovely trips by car and on foot. What you experience in the Val Venosta is an enchanted romanticism, the valley where the Adige is born, from which you enjoy the unforgettable panorama of the Ortles glaciers. A kaleidoscope of vivid and splendid colours, from the intense blue of the sky to the sparkling green of the meadows, to the darker and deeper green of the woods, to the candid white of the snows and the glitter of the glaciers. Along the SS 38 of the Stelvio pass, the highest in the eastern Alps, you descend towards the Val Venosta, in Alto Adige, heading towards Spondigia.

At Spondigia the road forks off towards Malles Venosta, running the whole valley, enlivened by towers, bell towers and abbeys that enrich the marvellous landscape. The first village you come across is Sluderno, where a stop is obligatory to admire the rich armoury with a grandiose collection of armour in the Churburg Castle of the 13th century. A detour to the right leads to the square walled circuit with towers of Glorenza, a small centre restored in full harmony with its past reality, which offers a suggestion worthy of note. A popular summer and winter holiday resort, Malles is a town that served as a link between northern Europe and the trading centres of northern Italy. As evidence of its historic past you can see the remains of a Romanesque-style castle, the church of San Benedetto and, a little further away, the Benedictine abbey of Monte Maria from the 12th century.

Climbing further up the valley the landscape opens up among vast expanses of meadows and lush woods, to which is added the suggestion of the two lakes of the Muta and Resia. Of great impact is the Romanesque bell tower that emerges from the lake of Resia, evidence of the village of the same name that once stood there and that was moved together with Curon to a higher altitude.