The memorable ostentation and vanities of the Hapsburg Court in Madonna
di Campiglio and a life of hardship and mass emigration in search of work,
was the destiny of the villages crossed by the imperial carriages to the
resort at the foot of the Brenta Dolimites. These are, perhaps, the most
evident contrasts in the history of Valle Rendena, now one of the greatest
tourist attractions in the whole of Trentino. A very green valley framed
by superb mountains, Adamello, Presanella and the Brenta Dolomites, dotted
with villages rich in history and tradition that, since the abandonment
of field work,have become places of genuine and simple hospitality in
the manner of mountain people.
Besides the incomparable natural beauties, rightly protected in a Nature
Park, the life and traditions of the Rendena people should be probed with
curiosity. The yellow polenta and the "trisa" to stir it in the copper
are still used today. The wheelbarrow, instead, with the grindstone to
sharpen knives and the grinder are symbols of this valley abandoned for
decades by youth and men in their prime. The so-called "Molete" emigrated
almost everywhere in the world in search of work.
Madonna di Campiglio, Pinzolo and the whole of Valle Rendena owe most
of their current fortune to beautyful mountains. Indeed places like the
Vallesinella Waterfalls, Campanil Basso or the Path of the Bocchette,
right in the heart of the Brenta Dolomites, are unique, as are the
San Giuliano lakes and peaks like Care' Alto and the Lobie or Mandrone
glaciers in the Adamello Presanella mountains.
Places visited every summer, like the many refugees, by hundreds of
thousands of people attracted by the legendary charm of the Dolomites
or stories of the White War that stained the peaks with blood during
World War II.
The green Rendena, through which the river Sarca flows, has also a dense
network of paths and several side valleys. The most famous one is
Genova, a real paradise of nature furrowed by the tumultuous water of
a branch of the torrent flowing down from the Mandrone glacier.
Climbing to the summit, or just walking in the woods (perhaps looking for mushrooms),
let us remember that we are in the heart of one of Trentino's Nature Parks.
You only have to look around you to guess the reason.