Castello-Molina di Fiemme
Castello-Molina di Fiemme is a municipality in the lower Val di Fiemme, in Trentino, formed in 1973 from the union of two settleme...
Updated 17 July 2026
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The story
The story of Castello-Molina di Fiemme
At the Entrance to the Val di Fiemme: Two Centres, One Municipality
The municipality of Castello-Molina di Fiemme occupies the lowest stretch of the Val di Fiemme, the point where the Dolomite valley, descending southward, opens into a broad basin before narrowing again toward the Vallagarina and the Adige. The municipal territory, covering about 54 square kilometres between roughly 850 and over 900 metres of altitude, comprises four settlements: Castello di Fiemme, seat of the town hall, Molina di Fiemme, Predaia and Stramentizzo. The two main villages began as separate communities and were administratively merged only in 1973, while keeping distinct characters: Castello, of medieval origin, developed around the hill overlooking the valley floor, while Molina, which grew later along the Avisio, still carries the imprint of a settlement built to harness water and timber. A few kilometres further up the valley lies Cavalese, the valley's largest town, for which Castello-Molina di Fiemme forms the natural gateway to anyone travelling up the Val di Fiemme from the south.
Lago di Stramentizzo and the Avisio
The feature that most defines the municipality's landscape is the Lago di Stramentizzo, the artificial reservoir created in 1956 by damming the Avisio torrent right at the entrance to the valley, on the border between the provinces of Trento and Bolzano. The reservoir, built to generate hydroelectric power carried as far as the San Floriano plant near Egna, submerged the old village of Stramentizzo, which was rebuilt nearby in the following years; of the former settlement only the ancient stone portal of the church survives today, preserved as a reminder. The water, with its characteristic greenish colour and home to stocked trout, stretches through a narrow gorge between wooded slopes, offering striking views along the road that climbs the valley. The lake and the stretch of the Avisio upstream, also suited to rafting, remain an important reference point for visitors to Castello-Molina di Fiemme, tangible proof of how the harnessing of water reshaped this part of the valley during the twentieth century.
The Resonance Forests and the Timber of the Magnifica Comunità
The territory of Castello-Molina di Fiemme lies within the forestry district managed by the Magnifica Comunità di Fiemme, the ancient collective institution, documented as early as 1111, which has for centuries administered more than twenty thousand hectares of forests and pastures across the whole valley. Among these woods grow the famous resonance red spruces, slow-growing trees with exceptionally regular fibre that generations of luthiers, from Antonio Stradivari onward, have selected to build the soundboards of violins, violas and cellos, a vocation that has earned these slopes the name forest of violins. At Molina di Fiemme itself, along the Avisio, this timber tradition found its productive outlet for centuries in Venetian-style sawmills, such as the historic one built in 1888 and powered by a large wooden waterwheel, and in the mills that processed the wood brought down from the forests of Val Cadino. The 1966 flood struck these activities hard, but timber processing and trade remain part of the local economy today.
Nature, the Cycle Path and the Landscape
Beyond the lake and the working forests, the territory of Castello-Molina di Fiemme offers a varied alpine landscape, where the meadows around the villages soon give way to conifer woods climbing toward the valley's higher slopes. The municipality is crossed by the Val di Fiemme cycle path, which follows the course of the Avisio linking the valley's villages and allows cyclists, on largely flat routes, to reach both the upper valley toward Cavalese and Predazzo and the southern stretch toward the Vallagarina. The same roads and trails also serve for walks and more demanding hikes into the forests of the Magnifica Comunità, with panoramic points over the Lago di Stramentizzo and the gorge carved by the torrent. In winter the area becomes a starting point for those heading to the valley's ski facilities, while in the other seasons it remains popular for cycle touring, walks along the water and the quiet of a territory less crowded than the valley's main resort towns.
History and Experiences Between the Two Villages
The history of Castello-Molina di Fiemme is that of two communities that grew at different paces. Castello di Fiemme has its roots in a medieval settlement that grew up around a manor on the hill of San Giorgio, seat of the county established by the Counts of Tyrol in 1214 and destroyed in 1296 by valley inhabitants who saw it as a symbol of oppression; on the site of the old castle now stands the parish church of San Giorgio, built in the mid-nineteenth century. Molina di Fiemme instead had a later origin, growing around two ancient mills, and experienced rapid growth between the 18th and 19th centuries thanks to its sawmills and brisk timber trade toward Venice. Today visitors can stroll between the two villages, admire the stone fountains typical of the valley, visit the church of San Giorgio and the historic Venetian-style sawmill, then extend the experience to the lake, the resonance forests and the cycle path, in an itinerary that tells, century after century, how timber and water shaped this corner of the Val di Fiemme.
Not to be missed
- Church of San Giorgio, on the hill of the old castle of Castello di Fiemme
- Lago di Stramentizzo, the artificial reservoir on the Avisio at the valley entrance
- The historic 1888 Venetian-style sawmill of Molina di Fiemme
- A hike into the resonance forests of the Magnifica Comunità di Fiemme
- The Val di Fiemme cycle path along the Avisio
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