When I was about 8 years old, my mum, dad, my elder brother Gian Luca and I spent a week in the Dolomites, in a tiny town called Folgarida. I could not remember much of those places, apart from some of the pictures that we still have in our travelling albums.
Last Tuesday my dad came back home all excited saying that his boss would let him have Thursday and Friday off (15th of August is a bank holiday in Italy) and he went: ' How about spending a couple of days in Trentino with the children?
Although I only had about a week left in Italia and still plenty of things to do and people to see, I thought 'Why not?' and there we were, on the motorway on Friday morning, heading northbound (Mantova, Verona, Trento). Not an early start though, we left at about 11, and that's something you get to learn when travelling with kids (aged 6 and 8), the travelling rhythms and the things to do are so different than the ones you have when it is an 'all-adult holiday'.
Hiking would be a perfect activity to do in Trentino, the footpaths on the mountains are fantastic and varied, and one could easily spend a week changing 'Valli' and 'Passi' every day to maximise the landscape offer. However, for this 2-day trip, we opted for a visit of the famous monastery of Saint Romedio (with the bear), a wildlife park with bears and wolves and a day up in the mountains (Pradel - 1,370 m. and Croz Altissimo , 1530 m.) with a marvellous view on the Lake of Molveno.
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Gnocchi with speck, cream and rocket
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After a good 4 hour- drive, a few wee-and-lunch stops, we got out of the speedway at Mezzolombardo and we went to see the Sanctuary of San Romedio, which, my dad was told, is the most beautiful monastery in Europe. Plenty of steps to walk up to see the churches up there (there is more than one Chapel) and the children especially were so excited to see the bear (Bruno) in the park outside the church. A bit of a shy bear, he made his first appearance a good hour after our arrival, but it was well worth the wait. Bruno was active and moving here and there around the park, he also had a bit of a fight with a massive, wooden log, which my nephews Lucas and Daniel found very entertaining!
A bit of story of the saint for you: Saint Romedius was the son of a nobleman, as a young man he withdrew to a rock cave in order to meditate. After the death of his parents, he gave away all of his possessions and established himself in the Val di Non (Trentino).
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| Italian regional cuisine |
According to his hagiography he wanted to visit the friend but his horse was torn to pieces by a wild bear. The bear became docile and carried Romedius on its back to Trento and lived with the Saint ever since. Upon Romedius' death, his body was laid to rest in a small tomb above his cave in the mountains, a site that was soon visited by pilgrims. The Sanctuary of San Romedio grew from this little church.
In the evening we found two rooms in a pretty agriturismo, Soleblu, in Mezzacorona and the second day we decided to go to an animal park nearby Parco faunistico di Spormaggiore (an interesting and fun visit not just in the eyes of children!). The park is famous for its two woolves and three bears! Not lucky enough to see the bears (who were too lazy to come out and show themselves) but we managed to see the wolves really really close-by. Here are a few pictures of them.
In the afternoon after the visit to the park we headed to Molveno and its beautiful lake, still in Val di Non and we took two mountain lifts to get as high as 1,570 metres above the sea level. The view was truly amazing. We were lucky enough to have a beautiful day with clear skies and quite hot as well! Up there are a couple of cottages and restaurants, where we relaxed, sunbathed and the kids played with other children they found there.
This was just a glimpse of the Trentino region. You could spend a whole week or longer with your family or friends and I can assure you... You won't regret it!
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