Serrada in Trentino Section of Italy
A couple of hours northwest of Bologna, and 30 minutes up winding mountain roads is our home exchange in Serrada, at 1250 m. altitude in the Trentino Mountains. As we screeched in and out the hairpin turns overlooking a valley far below Paul said, “This means we have to drive in and out this road every time we want to go somewhere”, with an implied “Oy Vey!” Fortunately Paul is a great mountain driver and executes each turn like it’s an exciting video game. I prefer it when a large bus or car is in front of us, reminding oncoming traffic that the center of the narrow road is only theirs in there imagination.
Our home for 9 days is a very small two bedroom condo (one BR for us and one for the luggage) in a peaceful village with spectacular views for hikers,
and colorful houses,
or escapees from hot cities in the summer, and for skiers in the winter. We are here between seasons, which is fine with us. Some restaurants are closed, but there is the Bar Centrale
for Espresso before and Beer after a hike into the nearby mountains; a Pizzeria, Volt, with great thin crust Pizza’s open weekends; and the larger town of Folgaria nearby for serious groceries, slightly better restaurant selection and screw replacements for Paul’s sunglasses.
We started Thursday 9/19, with an 8 km roundtrip hike up 350 m ( 1148’) to view the beautiful mountain panorama from Mt. Finonchio.
Our friends Bob and Shari just finished hiking in the Dolomites at twice that elevation and distance, but they are kids. At the top of Mt. Finonchio was a closed Rifugio, an amazing view north to the Dolomites marred only by five (count ‘em 5) towers for cellular or television reception. Paul’s android was 4 times faster up there. We had brought salami, cheese, fruit, bread and the Android, so were happy without Rifugio support.
Next day we drove north 40km to Trento, a lovely city filled with beautiful old palaces and churches, with underground sites of excavated roman ruins from around 300BC.
We enjoyed the low 70’s F weather as we toured about, and toward end of the afternoon we walked about 20 minutes to a new Science Museum designed by Lorenzo Piano,
who designed the Science museum in Golden Gate Park, another we saw 4 years ago in Amsterdam, and a few other great buildings all over Europe, Tokyo and Korea. (Paul took great photos I want to send to Patrick, but I don’t know where he is.) We walked back into the Piazza del Duomo (every Italian city must have one) for our first gelato of the trip, then to Santa Maria Maggiore (big Saint Mary) where we had safely, it turned out, left the car. (Important Note: we find driving into any city, finding parking without a map, and later finding one’s way back to the route home are the most stressfull parts of any auto travel. More relaxed travelers take a train, but trains don’t always go where and when we go.) Fortunately this was an easy trip out of Trento, thanks to our walk to the museum that showed us the way, and home to a Paul-prepared salad and pasta dinner. It turned out Bologna has an Eataly store, wherein we had stocked up on great pasta and jars of good sauces to bring with us to our mountain home.
We enjoyed the low 70’s F weather as we toured about, and toward end of the afternoon we walked about 20 minutes to a new Science Museum designed by Lorenzo Piano,
who designed the Science museum in Golden Gate Park, another we saw 4 years ago in Amsterdam, and a few other great buildings all over Europe, Tokyo and Korea. (Paul took great photos I want to send to Patrick, but I don’t know where he is.) We walked back into the Piazza del Duomo (every Italian city must have one) for our first gelato of the trip, then to Santa Maria Maggiore (big Saint Mary) where we had safely, it turned out, left the car. (Important Note: we find driving into any city, finding parking without a map, and later finding one’s way back to the route home are the most stressfull parts of any auto travel. More relaxed travelers take a train, but trains don’t always go where and when we go.) Fortunately this was an easy trip out of Trento, thanks to our walk to the museum that showed us the way, and home to a Paul-prepared salad and pasta dinner. It turned out Bologna has an Eataly store, wherein we had stocked up on great pasta and jars of good sauces to bring with us to our mountain home.
Next day was a Saturday, and we drove up a winding road to Luserna, a lovely little village at the end of a mountain road overlooking a vast deep valley.
From there, we took an easy, forested 7km mountain trail to a Rifugio that was open but crowded with Saturday hikers. Another gorgeous, blue-sky, perfect day, but there were no outside tables so we settled (in all senses of the word) within. We had a great opportunity to practice the patience we often witness in Italians when not served within a reasonable timeframe. Danice had at last stood to request an Agua Minerale frizzante when the waitress who had served a table of 5 that arrived after we did finally came to our table. There were two lunch choices; Danice had Goulash with polenta, Paul had Zuppa de Goulash - deliciously seasoned and we will never know what meat was in the Goulash, but not enough vegetables for sure. We hiked down the mountain through a lovely cow pasture;
it is always good to see where our milk, cheese and yogurt come from.
From there, we took an easy, forested 7km mountain trail to a Rifugio that was open but crowded with Saturday hikers. Another gorgeous, blue-sky, perfect day, but there were no outside tables so we settled (in all senses of the word) within. We had a great opportunity to practice the patience we often witness in Italians when not served within a reasonable timeframe. Danice had at last stood to request an Agua Minerale frizzante when the waitress who had served a table of 5 that arrived after we did finally came to our table. There were two lunch choices; Danice had Goulash with polenta, Paul had Zuppa de Goulash - deliciously seasoned and we will never know what meat was in the Goulash, but not enough vegetables for sure. We hiked down the mountain through a lovely cow pasture;
it is always good to see where our milk, cheese and yogurt come from.
Sunday we took a 90 min. mountain road south to Vicenze to see the amazing Palladio buildings that are all over the City. But first we were dismayed and then delighted to find all access to the center of town was blocked. We found a perimeter parking lot and a free bus running people into the center. It was a clean air celebration with only walkers, bikers and packed buses allowed. Perfecto!!! once we understood how it worked.
Palladio’s classic proportions set the standard for architecture to come. So beautiful and elegant, it’s hard to believe these buildings were built in the 1500’s.
Unfortunately the city or the owners are not able to keep up the maintenance on many of the beautiful old buildings. We found a good local restaurant a bit away from the tourist hoards for a lunch unlike anything we have at home. How often do I get Sformata of Asiago and Zucca? After much walking and craning of necks, by 5:30pm we stopped for a drink at a bar overlooking the entrance to the historc center. We were leaving, but masses were pouring into the main Corso di Palladio on foot and bicycle for the traditional Sunday night Passaggio. Years ago (yikes that was 1982) in Siena we were charmed and amazed at the Sunday Passaggio and have since seen a number of others. They have changed in one respect, though. In Seina everyone was dressed in their Sunday best, whereas now it seems to be much more casual style. Hoping that the roads out of the city would be open, we headed for the bus back to our car and an easy exit out and into our mountains.
Unfortunately the city or the owners are not able to keep up the maintenance on many of the beautiful old buildings. We found a good local restaurant a bit away from the tourist hoards for a lunch unlike anything we have at home. How often do I get Sformata of Asiago and Zucca? After much walking and craning of necks, by 5:30pm we stopped for a drink at a bar overlooking the entrance to the historc center. We were leaving, but masses were pouring into the main Corso di Palladio on foot and bicycle for the traditional Sunday night Passaggio. Years ago (yikes that was 1982) in Siena we were charmed and amazed at the Sunday Passaggio and have since seen a number of others. They have changed in one respect, though. In Seina everyone was dressed in their Sunday best, whereas now it seems to be much more casual style. Hoping that the roads out of the city would be open, we headed for the bus back to our car and an easy exit out and into our mountains.
Monday we drove to Verona. It was a bit too warm (79 F) for all the touring we tried to fit into a partial day. Loved the pink marble Roman Arena in the heart of the city, built in the first century AD and used frequently now for events such as the Verona Opera.
Some of the churches, St Anastasia and the Duomo are built on ruins from earlier churches in dating back to first century AD, and are amazing structures. We should have planned to spend the night in Verona as there was so much to see. We hope to return on another trip for a few more days; it’s a beautiful place if the tourists weren’t so abundant. (We know, we know, we are tourists; but we mean those other people.) Here's a sample of what we saw.
Some of the churches, St Anastasia and the Duomo are built on ruins from earlier churches in dating back to first century AD, and are amazing structures. We should have planned to spend the night in Verona as there was so much to see. We hope to return on another trip for a few more days; it’s a beautiful place if the tourists weren’t so abundant. (We know, we know, we are tourists; but we mean those other people.) Here's a sample of what we saw.
Tuesday a longer hike up to Dosso del Sommo and an old WWI stone fortress with spectacular panoramics looking north into the Dolomites.
It’s hard to imagine fighting wars in these mountains. This was a 10km hike up steep rocky hills about 420m or 1378 ft. elevation gain. Danice suffered from oxygen deprivation on the way up, while Paul suffered from ankle and calf degeneration from his recent Achilles rupture going down. He took the brunt of the force in his stronger quads, which were sore the next day, but we did it and are still walking.
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| This is a panoramic from the fort at the Dosso del Sommo |
It’s hard to imagine fighting wars in these mountains. This was a 10km hike up steep rocky hills about 420m or 1378 ft. elevation gain. Danice suffered from oxygen deprivation on the way up, while Paul suffered from ankle and calf degeneration from his recent Achilles rupture going down. He took the brunt of the force in his stronger quads, which were sore the next day, but we did it and are still walking.
Wednesday we headed down the hill 30 min to Rovereto. We had seen it as an Autostrada exit; but our mountain neighbor, Ms. Rubaldi, told us there was a very good art museum there. It was a wonderful Museum of Modern Art designed and built in 2002 by Mario Botta who did San Francisco’s MOMA in 1996 (and many others.)
There was much great art ranging over the past 100 years by Italian artists I’d never heard of; and some American pop artists. As far as we could understand the museum hung its entire collection of 3000 pieces. It was an exciting, and exhasting, education in all we don’t know.
And the town was another charming old Italian town:
There was much great art ranging over the past 100 years by Italian artists I’d never heard of; and some American pop artists. As far as we could understand the museum hung its entire collection of 3000 pieces. It was an exciting, and exhasting, education in all we don’t know.
Thursday, our last full day before we pack up, tidy up and head for Florence, we picked a local woodsy hike with minimal elevation changes, and ended up again at our local Bar Centrale in the early afternoon watching the locals come and go and soaking up another blue-sky 71 F day. Paul had photographed paintings on houses all over the village that were mysterious to us and may or may not have been by the same artist...all with a futurist style. In Rovereto the previous day though, we saw many works of Fortunato Depero, a local boy who became somewhat famous for this futurist style and design. It appears the art on the houses in Serrada is copied from his paintings or at least the futurist style. Depero spent some time in Serrada and mentioned it in his writings. And we figure that's why this village is rather proud of him and the concept of Futurism. Here are some of the wall paintings.
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