Castello Tesino
Castello Tesino is the most populous municipality and the reference hub of the Altopiano del Tesino, the wide basin lying between...
Updated 20 July 2026
This season · July · Summer
What to do in Castello Tesino now
The story
The story of Castello Tesino
Castello Tesino on the Altopiano del Tesino
Castello Tesino stands at 871 metres above sea level on the slopes of Monte Picosta, at the heart of the Altopiano del Tesino, the wide basin between 800 and 900 metres that opens on the left side of the eastern Valsugana, in the province of Trento, just a few kilometres from the border with Veneto. Covering over one hundred square kilometres, it is the largest and most populous of the three municipalities making up the Conca del Tesino, together with Pieve Tesino and Cinte Tesino: distinct administrative entities sharing the same history, landscape and culture. The town grew up around the Sant'Ippolito hill, once the site of an ancient Rhaetian settlement and later an outpost along the Roman Via Claudia Augusta, while its hamlets, including Lissa, Molini and Roa, stretch as far as the Vanoi valley. For centuries a land of transhumant shepherds and later of itinerant traders, the plateau has kept a strong identity, visible today both in the village's historical heritage and in the woods and pastures surrounding it.
The Perteghieri: from Flint Stones to Prints
The identity of Castello Tesino is tied to the figure of the perteghiere, the itinerant peddler who from the seventeenth century until the early twentieth century travelled the roads of Europe, from Spain to Russia, later reaching as far as the Americas and North Africa. This itinerant trade began when, as pastureland shrank, the inhabitants of the plateau had to look for new sources of livelihood: it was in Castello Tesino that the Gallo brothers set up a business extracting flint stone for muskets, the first driver of an economy built on travel and door-to-door selling. Over time the trade shifted from flint stones to popular prints, initially produced by the Remondini manufactory of Bassano del Grappa and later published directly by the Tesini themselves, who went on to open around sixty shops across the continent. The First World War, with closed borders, marked the decline of this era, whose memory still lives on across the plateau in its houses, surnames and traditions.
The Grotta di Castello Tesino and the Plateau's Karst
The territory of Castello Tesino holds one of the most significant karst phenomena in Trentino. To the north of the plateau the insoluble granite rocks of Cima d'Asta dominate, where karst activity is almost absent, while to the south carbonate rocks prevail, giving rise to dozens of surface and underground karst forms: sinkholes, swallow holes and more than fifty caves, concentrated around Monte Agaro, Monte Mezza and Celado. The most famous is the Grotta di Castello Tesino, discovered in September 1927 by surveyor Bortolo Da Rugna on the right bank of the Senaiga stream, at 960 metres above sea level: it is the only cave in Trentino equipped for tourist visits, with a route of about 450 metres through passages rich in stalactites, stalagmites, columns and concretions. Inside flows the Torrente Ignoto, an underground stream with impressive flows after rainfall, and home to Niphargus galvagnii, a small cave-dwelling crustacean known so far only from this cave. Guided tours, by appointment, reveal one of the most unusual natural environments in Trentino.
Pastures, Alpine Huts and the Lagorai Landscape
The municipal territory of Castello Tesino stretches from the meadows of the valley floor up to the northern foothills of the Lagorai range, culminating in the majestic Cima d'Asta, which reaches almost 2,850 metres and dominates the plateau with its alpine lakes and namesake refuge. Along the slope climbing toward Passo Brocon, a historic pass and today a ski area served by the Funivie Lagorai, woods of fir and larch alternate with pastures and alpine huts, many still active in traditional summer cheesemaking. It is in this area that the famous Tròdo dei fiori winds its way, a botanical trail that crosses over three hundred species of alpine flowers within a few kilometres, with views over the Dolomites, while the Tròdo delle malghe links, in a loop, the active and abandoned huts of the Celado plateau, also home to a small astronomical observatory. Parco La Cascatella, with its natural pools close to the village, offers a more accessible taste of this nature, ideal before or after a hike toward the higher reaches of the Lagorai.
History, Art and Local Traditions
The historic centre of Castello Tesino holds a rich heritage for a mountain village. On the Sant'Ippolito hill, where excavations between 1977 and 1979 brought to light Rhaetian finds from the Iron Age, stands the church of Santi Ippolito e Cassiano, dating to 1436, with a cycle of fifteenth-century frescoes, while the church of San Giorgio, dedicated to the patron saint depicted as the knight defeating the dragon, is today the parish church. The seventeenth-century Palazzo Gallo, once belonging to the family that drove the perteghieri trade, houses the Museo del Legno, dedicated to the tools of forestry work tied to herding and itinerant trade; just outside the village the Roman bridge over the Guernana stream still stands. Every five years, during carnival, the village relives the Biagio delle Castellare, a reenactment of the 1365 revolt against Count Biagio, with a procession, trial and capture in the square. The twentieth century left another legacy of courage, that of local partisans Ancilla Marighetto and Clorinda Menguzzato, gold medals for military valour in the Resistance.
Not to be missed
- Guided tour of the Grotta di Castello Tesino, Trentino's only visitable karst cave
- The church of Santi Ippolito e Cassiano with its fifteenth-century fresco cycle
- The Museo del Legno in the seventeenth-century Palazzo Gallo, at the heart of the perteghieri story
- A hike along the Tròdo dei fiori and to the active alpine huts toward Passo Brocon
- The Roman bridge over the Guernana stream and the archaeological Sant'Ippolito hill
To see
What to see in Castello Tesino
Routes · Trovido Route
