Val di Non and its castles
Apple trees as far as you can see, and above the apple trees some thirty castles.
Val di Non is a broad basin northwest of Trento, cut by the Noce torrent into deep canyons that here are called orridi. What you see from the road is apple trees: rows on concrete posts that cover the whole valley floor and climb the slopes to a thousand metres. From here and from the neighbouring Val di Sole comes the Mela della Valle di Non, which has had Dop status since 2003.
Above the orchards stand the castles, and this is the valley that has more of them than any other in the region. Castel Thun, seat of the Thun counts, opened to the public in 2010 with its original furniture inside; Castel Valer has the tallest octagonal tower in Trentino; Castel Nanno, Castel Bragher and others remain private and are looked at from outside.
The sanctuary and the gorges
The sanctuary of San Romedio stands on a rock spur seventy metres high, with five small churches one above the other joined by a stairway of a hundred and thirty one steps: it is one of the most unusual cliff sanctuaries in Europe. Not far away the Rio Sass canyon, below the village of Fondo, is visited on walkways with a helmet and a raincoat.
How to get there
From the Adige valley you climb from Mezzocorona or San Michele in half an hour. There is also the Trento Male railway, a genuine valley train that runs through the middle of the orchards. Campsites in the valley are few and small; Val di Non is more often a day trip for people staying in Val di Sole, on Garda or in Trento.
In spring, between the end of April and the first days of May, the apple trees all blossom at once and the valley turns white for ten days or so: a time worth coming for even if the campsite is still shut.