Ronzo-Chienis
Ronzo-Chienis is a small municipality in the Vallagarina, in Trentino, created in 2010 from the merger of the two villages of Ronz...
Updated 21 July 2026
This season · July · Summer
What to do in Ronzo-Chienis now
The story
The story of Ronzo-Chienis
Ronzo-Chienis in the Val di Gresta, and the Two Villages Behind the Merger
The municipality of Ronzo-Chienis was created in 2010 by the union of the two ancient villages of Ronzo and Chienis, which have since shared a single administration while each retaining its own identity, its own churches and its own historic core. The settlement lies in the Val di Gresta, a valley suspended at around 1,000 metres between the Vallagarina, carved by the Adige, and Lake Garda, whose mild climate can be felt even though the lake is some ten kilometres away as the crow flies. The municipal territory is ringed by a true mountain amphitheatre: Monte Stivo to the north, Monte Biaena to the east and Monte Creino to the west trace its natural boundaries, while the valley continues on toward the Passo Bordala. Ronzo-Chienis shares the Val di Gresta with some hamlets of the neighbouring municipality of Mori, in an area that, by position, climate and traditions, has always had a character of its own compared with the valley floor of the Vallagarina, remaining a small rural world at mid-mountain altitude.
The Valley of Vegetable Gardens and Organic Farming
The Val di Gresta is known throughout Trentino as the valley of the vegetable gardens, a nickname earned in the field thanks to a long tradition of mountain market gardening that here, owing to the particular microclimate created by altitude and proximity to Lake Garda, produces results of recognised quality. Families in Ronzo-Chienis have grown potatoes, carrots, cabbages, beans and courgettes for generations, largely using organic methods, on small terraced plots that shape the valley's agricultural landscape. This farming vocation is celebrated every year by the Mostra Mercato of typical Val di Gresta produce, an event that for over forty years has drawn visitors and lovers of mountain flavours, helping keep alive a rural economy that coexists with growing tourism, also fuelled by the proximity of Lake Garda and by a public that is largely German-speaking. Walking among the vegetable gardens of Ronzo-Chienis in the warm season means crossing a mosaic of orderly crops, dry-stone walls and small rows, a close-to-home agriculture that remains the municipality's distinguishing trait.
Monte Stivo, Monte Biaena and the Outdoors
Dominating the landscape of Ronzo-Chienis to the north is Monte Stivo, a 2,054-metre peak in the Brescia and Garda Prealps, famous for its 360-degree panoramic balcony that from the summit sweeps from the Dolomites to Lake Garda, and for the Rifugio Stivo Prospero Marchetti, just over two thousand metres up, a base for hikers and paragliding enthusiasts alike: its walls and slopes are indeed among the most popular paragliding sites in the area. On the opposite, eastern side rises Monte Biaena, 1,622 metres, gentle in profile when seen from Rovereto but noticeably sharper when viewed from the Val di Gresta; its summit holds a cross, a chapel and the SAT Val di Gresta mountain hut, alongside the remains of Austro-Hungarian trenches from the First World War. Six trails of varying difficulty, some passing through Malga Somator, lead to its top, in an environment rich in alpine wildlife, from roe deer to chamois, up to golden eagles that nest permanently in the area.
The War Trails (Nagià Grom) and History
The Val di Gresta and the villages that today form Ronzo-Chienis were harshly marked by the First World War: on 26 May 1915, immediately after Italy entered the war, an evacuation order was issued for the population of the entire valley, which lay close to the border with the Kingdom of Italy and became the scene of a secondary front compared with the great clashes on the Isonzo, yet no less scarred by positions, trenches and communication trenches dug into its slopes. Traces of those years can still be read across the territory, from the Austro-Hungarian trenches on the summit of Monte Biaena to the remains of trenches and positions in the Nagià Grom area, today the destination of historic trails that let visitors retrace the memory of the conflict on foot through woods and rocky outcrops. Walking these paths means combining a nature hike with historical reflection, in a landscape that, once peace returned, was slowly given back to the farming and tourism that characterise Ronzo-Chienis today.
Nature and Experiences
The territory of Ronzo-Chienis packs a great variety of environments into a small area, from the terraced vegetable gardens of the valley floor to the beech and chestnut woods that climb toward the high-altitude pastures, up to the rocky outcrops of Monte Biaena, of volcanic origin on its southern face. The valley continues beyond the village as far as the Passo Bordala, a crossing point toward neighbouring territories and a stop for those travelling the Val di Gresta's routes on foot or by bicycle. Wildlife is particularly abundant precisely because of the quiet and the varied vegetation: alongside golden eagles and chamois, in recent years brown bears have also become a stable presence, a sign of a still-intact environment. Between a walk among the blossoming vegetable gardens, a hike toward the Stivo or the Biaena and a stop at Malga Somator, Ronzo-Chienis offers itself as a quiet base for slow tourism, able to combine nature, history and genuine flavours just a short distance from Lake Garda.
Not to be missed
- Climb to Monte Stivo (2,054 m) and the 360-degree panorama from Rifugio Marchetti
- Hike to Monte Biaena among the cross, chapel, SAT hut and Austro-Hungarian trenches
- Mostra Mercato of organic produce from the Val di Gresta
- Historic trail among the WWI trench remains at Nagià Grom
- Walk among the terraced vegetable gardens of the villages of Ronzo and Chienis
To see
What to see in Ronzo-Chienis
Routes · Trovido Route
