The Wine Road and Caldaro

The lake and the wines of the Oltradige

South of Bolzano, on the sunny hills west of the Adige, the South Tyrolean Wine Road (Südtiroler Weinstraße) winds for about 70 kilometres through vineyards, villages, castles and wineries, from Nalles to Salorno, in one of the most beautiful wine landscapes of the Alps, where Mediterranean warmth meets the freshness of the mountains. Its heart is Caldaro (Kaltern), a large village of elegant houses in the "Oltradige style", a mix of Gothic and Renaissance forms with loggias, oriels and balconies, surrounded by vineyards and apple orchards, with a lively square and many wine shops.

A few kilometres south of the village, in a basin among vineyards, lies Lake Caldaro (Kalterer See), one of the warmest bathing lakes of the Alps, where the water reaches over 25 degrees in summer, with lidos, reed beds and a path for walking. The lake gives its name to a famous light red wine, the Kalterersee, made mainly from the Schiava (Vernatsch) grape, the traditional grape of South Tyrol. In Caldaro, the South Tyrolean Wine Museum tells the history of winemaking in the region, with old tools, presses and barrels. From the village, the historic Mendola funicular, opened in 1903, one of the longest and steepest in Europe, climbs to the Mendola pass, at about 1,360 metres, with a view over the Adige valley and the Dolomites. The Wine Road also includes villages such as Appiano, with over 170 castles and residences, and Cortaccia.

Tip: in September, the "Kalterer Weinwoche", the wine week, is held; take the Mendola funicular at sunset for the view.

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Where it is

More things to see in Trentino-South Tyrol

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