Sarnonico
Sarnonico is a municipality of the Alta Anaunia area, in the upper Val di Non, set at about 963 metres above sea level on the west...
Updated 18 July 2026
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The story
The story of Sarnonico
Sarnonico in the Upper Val di Non, at the Foot of the Mendola
Sarnonico lies in the Alta Anaunia, the northernmost part of the Val di Non, at about 963 metres above sea level on the western side of the valley. The municipal territory includes the main town and the hamlet of Seio, joined to Sarnonico in 1964, and covers just over 12 square kilometres up to the ridge of Monte Penegal, bordering the South Tyrolean municipalities of Appiano and Caldaro sulla Strada del Vino to the north and, on the Trentino side, Cavareno, Dambel, Novella, Romeno, Ronzone and Ruffré-Mendola. This position, right below the Mendola Pass, which has historically linked the Val di Non with Bolzano and the Adige Valley, made Sarnonico a waypoint along the route that climbs from the valley floor toward the pass, today followed by the Tonale-Mendola state road. The landscape, dotted with apple orchards, woods and small rural hamlets, still reflects this hinge position between Trentino and South Tyrol.
The Dolomiti Golf Club and Tourism
The best-known attraction of Sarnonico is the Dolomiti Golf Club, an 18-hole course covering about 50 hectares on the plateau of the upper Val di Non, considered one of the most demanding and scenic courses in the entire Alpine arc. Every hole opens onto views ranging from the Dolomiti di Brenta to the Maddalene chain, amid rolling fairways, fir woods and carefully tended green meadows. The club in its current form dates back to 1988, but the practice of golf in this corner of the valley has older roots: already in the early decades of the twentieth century, the Habsburg court nobility, who frequented the upper Val di Non and the nearby Mendola as a holiday destination, had encouraged the creation of an early nine-hole course at the foot of Monte Roen, valued for its gentle slopes. This long tradition has made Sarnonico and its surroundings an established destination for high-altitude sporting tourism, which today sits alongside the area's hiking and nature offerings.
The Orchards and Apples of the Val di Non
Like much of the upper Val di Non, the territory of Sarnonico is marked by apple orchards that cover the sunniest slopes around the town and the hamlet of Seio. The valley is the birthplace of the Melinda apple, a brand covering the varieties grown in the area, including Golden Delicious, and it was the first Protected Designation of Origin ever granted in Italy to a fruit-sector product. Apple growing, favoured by the temperature swings and the exposure of the slopes, gradually replaced other traditional crops over the course of the twentieth century, becoming the leading economic activity of Sarnonico and the neighbouring municipalities. In spring the blossoming orchards cover the valley's slopes in white and pink, while in autumn, at harvest time, the agricultural landscape still tells the story of the community's close bond with the land around it.
The Woods, the Mendola and the Natural Landscape
Beyond the belt of apple orchards, the territory of Sarnonico climbs quickly toward the coniferous woods that cover the slopes up to the ridge of Monte Penegal, on the border with South Tyrol. This forest heritage has been managed for centuries through community-use regulations, with agreements among the local communities dating back to the late sixteenth century, testifying to a mountain culture built on the shared management of resources. Climbing toward the Mendola Pass, a short distance from the village, the landscape opens onto denser woods and viewpoints that, from the nearby summit of the Penegal, offer views stretching over the Adige Valley. It was precisely this combination of clean air, woodland and a mild mid-mountain climate that made the Mendola area, between the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, a favoured health-resort destination for European aristocracy, a tourist legacy that Sarnonico, at the foot of the pass, shared in its prestige.
History and Experiences
The history of Sarnonico has roots in the early Middle Ages: as early as the fifth or sixth century a pieve, a mother parish church, dedicated to San Lorenzo already served an area wider than today's municipality, while under Lombard rule civil authority over the area rested with the gastaldo of Romeno. Around the fourteenth century two castles stood in the village, and in 1380 the de Moris family received the feudal investiture, taking on the German name Moremberg, from which come the Renaissance Palazzo Morenberg, today the town hall, and Castel Morenberg, a fourteenth-century fortress later turned into a residence and rebuilt after a fire in 1888. After Napoleonic secularisation and the Austrian period, during which the road between Cavareno and Fondo was completed in 1835 and a tramway to Dermulo and the Mendola arrived in 1909, Sarnonico passed to Italy in 1919, was suppressed as an independent municipality in 1928 and reconstituted following a referendum in 1952. Today its historic centre, with the Gothic parish church of San Lorenzo documented since 1184 and the Romanesque church of Santa Maria, can be explored on foot in a walk that easily combines with a round at the Dolomiti Golf Club or a stroll among the orchards toward Seio.
Not to be missed
- Dolomiti Golf Club, an 18-hole course among the most scenic in the Alps
- The Gothic parish church of San Lorenzo, documented since 1184
- Palazzo Morenberg and Castel Morenberg, landmarks of the de Moris family
- A walk among the blossoming apple orchards toward the hamlet of Seio
- A hike toward the Mendola Pass and views over the Adige Valley
To see
What to see in Sarnonico
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