To see

Sold in 1989 by Lord Giorgio Thun Welsperg to the Autonomous Province of Trento, the villa today contains the rooms open to the public (library, exhibition rooms, educational workshop) as well as the Park management offices. In summer, the Park organises many important activities, such as workshops, thematic tours, literary promenades and star watching nights.

This is the only true castle in the Valle del Primiero, and the scenery here is an unforgettable experience. Perched on a rock and surrounded by a thick wood, it vies in beauty with the nearby Pale di S. Martino mountains. Its name (Rock Castle) is immediately explained, in fact, there appears to be no solution of continuity between the rocky mountain and the fortress. There was no need for battlements or drawbridges, nature had already done all the work. But nature too, if abandoned, eventually collapses (from the 19th century) and the ruinous state of the castle is due to the deterioration and erosion of the crag on which it is built (the Autonomous Province of Trento has recently undertaken restoration work). Once on the top, and with a little imagination, one may reconstruct its history. Beginning with a local legend, according to which it was erected against the invasion of Attila, the castle is then mentioned in historical records. A fief of the Bishop of Feltre controlling the road between the area of Agordo and Fiera (Cereda Pass), it lost its military purpose after the destruction by the Venetians (1511). It was later transformed into the quiet summer house of the Welsperg family (see the 16th century Palazzo Welsperg at Fiera di Primiero). 16th century documents also mention the chapel dedicated to St. Leonard. Subsequently damaged by fire, it was abandoned and today is a charming ruin.

On the panoramic hill above the village, in the little church was recently descovered an amazing frescoes cycle dating back to the XIII century.

During the period in which the iron, silver and lead mines of Valle di Primiero were most exploited, namely from the 14th to the 16th century, the Palazzo delle Miniere (Mines Palace) was built as seat of the mining authority, the Bergrichter. Its appearance is austere, with embattled walls and a double series of loopholes. Its frescoes depict in the heraldry the several hereditary countries and the territories under the Hapsburg rule that extended to this area. Recently restored, it now houses a small museum of local culture and a hall for temporary exhibitions. The museum displays the equipment of the carpenter, the saddler, the itinerant chair-maker and of an old forge, as well as documents concerning activities such as spinning, weaving, haymaking, milk processing and the most important activity of all: mining in Primiero. Finally, two rooms are dedicated to the history and work of Luigi Negrelli. Mostly renowned as the inventor of the Suez Canal concept, he is recently emerging from anachronistic nationalistic interpretations. Native of Fiera di Primiero, he died in Vienna in 1858 without seeing the excavations that would lead to the connection between the Mediterranean Sea and the Indian Ocean, achieved one year later and without giving him due recognition.

The most fruitful period of the silver and copper mines in the Primiero region covers a time span from the 14th to the 16th centuries. This was the period of greatest development of Fiera, the first nucleus of which was built around the Palace of the Tyrolean Magistrate of the Mines and the parish church. The defensive appearance (crenellated walls, double row of embrasures) served a symbolic, rather than military purpose, as an element of prestige. Of interest are the frescoes of the armorial bearings of the various Imperial overseers of the mines. Erected towards the middle of the 15th century, by the Archduke Sigismund of Austria, it was subsequently refurbished, as testified by the date, 1558, above the doorway. Here and there, however, there are traces of its Gothic appearance (doorways, corbelling), which have been highlighted by the recent restoration work, carried out to adapt it to a museum of local culture.

The deanery church of the Assumption at Fiera di Primiero is certainly one of the most beautiful examples of Gothic architecture in the Trentino. Finished in 1493 and consecrated two years later, its most imposing feature is its tall frescoed belfry. The church, built during the intense and prosperous mining era, has three naves and is decorated with a large number of precious frescoes. The interior boasts baroque-style altars, the most impressive of which is the "miners´ altar". The choir, with its paintings depicting holy scriptures and its 1900 organ, is a genuine masterpiece of religious architecture. Well worthy of note is the great fresco painted by Giangiacomo Roemer (1545 - 1560) in memory of his dead sons. A composition in the Renaissance style bearing the colours and coats of arms of the Roemer-Brandis family, the coats of arms of six other noble families, including the eagle of the Hapsburgs, and the two coats of arms belonging to the Welspergs, the family which governed the valley in 1401. During recent restoration work archaeologists discovered the remains of a Palaeo-Christian basilica from the V-VI century Nowadays the well of the ancient baptismal font and a part of the side apse are still visible.

Saint Martin church The church of Saint Martin is located close to the "Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary" Deanery Church and dates back to the period between 1020 and 1100. The apse is Romanesque, while the remains of the frescoes inside were surely painted by artists from Veneto in the XIII century. There is no reliable source of information about the great external paintings, partly destroyed. Inside is a magnificent baptismal font.

The Vederna chapel is on mount Monte Totoga and is open on August 5th of every year, in occasion of the Madonna della Neve celebration, with a gathering and a holy mass. You can reach Passo Gobbera pass by car and from there you need to walk half an hour to the chapel.

The church of Saint Sylvester, located on Monte Totoga, is open to the public only on 1st May of every year, when a Holy Mass is celebrated inside. To reach the church tourists can travel to the Gobbera Pass by car and then walk for about half an hour.

VISITOR INFORMATION CENTER - SAN MARTINO DI CASTROZZA The set-up is strictly scientific but provides visitors with the naturalistic aspects of high-altitude environments in a realistic and entertaining way. The visit continues outside the building where a small pond contains specimens of the area´s aquatic species that can be viewed also from below the surface through an underground window. There is also a detection system that indicates the temperature of the grounds exposed to the sunlight and in shadow, and a rock garden. All of these occasions contribute to the better understanding of the environment. Winter opening hours: Mondays and Fridays. Summer: every day.

A very interesting Museum in Caoria on the subject of old time arts and crafts.

The Vanoi Valley, hollowed out by the homonymous stream that flows into the Cismon stream, is located at the south-east end of Province of Trento. The idea of creating an ethnographic itinerary right in this area was launched in 1992 by the Paneveggio Pale di San Martino Nature Park with the co-operation of the Museum of Uses and Customs of the Peoples of Trentino. The network of paths is interspersed with information points, rural buildings on the mid-altitude meadows, high-altitude Alpine summer pastures, as well as sites with homographic handicraft related to the wood. The realisation works of the ethnographic path began in 1996 and finished in 2001. The ethnographic itinerary also was intended as an integral part of the wider context of the new Vanoi Ecomuseum (Ecological Museum), in support of the physical recovery of the area, of the local material culture and of the traditions in interaction with the Vanoi community.

The "Great War", waged between 1914 and 1918 on various fronts, with dramatic and world-wide effects. This small museum of Caoria tells of the bloody battles fought on the Lagorai chain where thousands of Italian and Austro-Hungarian soldiers died. The museum, through different kinds of objects and relics and a rich collection of photographs, makes a snapshot of this historical tragedy. Not far away and also managed by the Caoria Alpini Group, there is the Italian military cemetery built in 1916. The Vanoi Valley is renowned not only for this museum dedicated to the war, but also for an open-air Museum made up of artistic itineraries crossing villages that characterise the valley, in search of popular murals. Both these museums are part and parcel (since 1988) of the Vanoi´s variegated Ecomuseum resulting from a convention between the Paneveggio Pale di San Martino Park and the Canal San Bovo township.