Trentino-South Tyrol

The Dolomites are the soul of the region and one of the most spectacular mountain landscapes on earth — pale limestone peaks rising in sheer towers, pinnacles and walls above green valleys and high pastures, a UNESCO World Heritage Site for their beauty and geology. Their distinctive rock turns shades of pink and orange at sunrise and sunset, the glow the locals call enrosadira. Icons abound: the three Torri del Vajolet, the great prow of the Sassolungo and Sella massifs, the Catinaccio (Rosengarten) above Bolzano, and — just over into the Veneto but reached from here — the Tre Cime di Lavaredo. In winter this is world-class ski country: the Dolomiti Superski pass links twelve resorts and more than 1,200 kilometres of pistes, including the famous Sellaronda circuit around the Sella massif, the slopes of Val Gardena (which hosts a men's World Cup downhill), Alta Badia, Madonna di Campiglio and the Val di Fassa and Fiemme. In summer the cable cars keep turning for hikers, and the mountains fill with walkers, climbers on the via ferrata iron-rope routes, mountain-bikers and families exploring the rifugio mountain huts, alpine lakes and flower meadows. Whatever the season, the Great Dolomite Road and the high passes (Sella, Pordoi, Gardena) are among the most scenic drives in Europe.

The northern province of South Tyrol (Alto Adige / Südtirol) feels more Austrian than Italian — a legacy of its history within the Habsburg Tyrol until 1919 — and the blend is one of the region's pleasures. Its capital, Bolzano (Bozen), is a handsome, prosperous city of arcaded medieval streets, a Gothic cathedral and a lively market square (Piazza delle Erbe), set among vineyard-clad hills; it is also home to the South Tyrol Museum of Archaeology and its star resident, Ötzi the Iceman — the astonishingly preserved 5,300-year-old mummy found in a glacier in 1991, displayed with his clothing and tools. Around the province, picture-book towns like Merano (Meran), with its spa heritage and the Trauttmansdorff botanical gardens, and Bressanone (Brixen), Vipiteno and Glorenza, mix Tyrolean architecture with Italian style. The culture is bilingual (German and Italian, with Ladin still spoken in some Dolomite valleys), the food is Tyrolean — speck, canederli dumplings, strudel and hearty mountain fare — and the famous South Tyrolean wine road (Strada del Vino) winds through villages and vineyards producing Gewürztraminer, Pinot Bianco and the local red Lagrein. Castles crown nearly every hill, from the medieval Castel Roncolo to Castel Tirolo above Merano.

The southern province of Trentino is thoroughly Italian, and its capital, Trento, is an elegant small city with a Renaissance heart: the great Piazza Duomo with its frescoed palazzi and cathedral, and the Castello del Buonconsiglio, seat of the prince-bishops. Trento is best known to history for the Council of Trent, the long 16th-century church council that shaped the Counter-Reformation, and today it also has the acclaimed MUSE science museum, designed by Renzo Piano. Around the city spread Trentino's valleys — the apple-growing Val di Non with its medieval Castel Thun and the dramatic San Romedio sanctuary, the Val di Sole for rafting and skiing, the Brenta Dolomites above Madonna di Campiglio — and a scatter of beautiful lakes. Chief among them is the northern tip of Lake Garda, where Riva del Garda and Torbole sit beneath sheer cliffs at the lake's head: a Mediterranean pocket of olive groves, lemon terraces, palm-lined promenades and some of Europe's best windsurfing and sailing, thanks to the reliable mountain winds. From alpine peaks to a near-Riviera lakeshore within an hour's drive, Trentino packs remarkable variety into a small space.

Trentino-Alto Adige is one of Italy's most rewarding regions for food and drink, reflecting its split personality. The slopes of the Adige valley produce excellent wine: South Tyrol is famed for aromatic whites — Gewürztraminer (from the village of Tramin), Pinot Bianco, Pinot Grigio and Müller-Thurgau — and for the deep local red Lagrein and the light Schiava (Vernatsch), while Trentino is a major producer of sparkling Trentodoc and of Teroldego. The Val di Non is one of Europe's great apple orchards (the Melinda cooperative's Golden Delicious), and the region also turns out speck (the lightly smoked cured ham of South Tyrol), mountain cheeses and honey. The cooking shifts with the language: in the north, Tyrolean dishes — canederli (bread dumplings), speck and rye bread, schlutzkrapfen ravioli, goulash and apple strudel, eaten in cosy Stuben taverns — while Trentino leans Italian, with polenta, game and lake fish. The wine roads, the apple-blossom valleys in spring, the mountain huts serving hearty lunches, and the Christmas markets of Bolzano, Merano and Trento make the region a year-round pleasure for the table.