If you are hankering for a special European tourist destination, you should consider the Trentino-Alto Adige region of northern Italy on the border of both Switzerland and Austria. Its tourist attractions include the Dolomite Mountains, that the famous architect Le Corbusier called “The most beautiful work of architecture even seen,” glacier lakes, and Alpine forests. In fact the region is composed of two parts, Trentino in the south and Alto Adige in the north. This article presents Trentino; a companion article presents Alto Adige.

We’ll start our tour of Trentino at Rovereto near the border with Lombardy. We proceed northeast to the local capital, Trento, and head west first past the village of Comano with its thermal waters then past the typical Trentino village of Tione. Here we turn northeast to finish our tour at the ski resort Madonna di Campiglio. There is a lot more skiing in the area, but it’s over the border into Lombardy not very far from Switzerland.