Selva dei Molini
Selva dei Molini (Mühlwald in German) is a municipality of around 1,360 inhabitants in the province of Bolzano, in a side valley o...
Updated 20 July 2026
This season · July · Summer
What to do in Selva dei Molini now
The story
The story of Selva dei Molini
Selva dei Molini in the Side Valley above Campo Tures
The municipality of Selva dei Molini occupies the entire valley of the same name (Mühlwaldertal), a side valley that branches off the Aurina Valley shortly after Molini di Tures, a hamlet of Campo Tures, and climbs for about sixteen kilometres westward into the heart of the Zillertal Alps, on the border with Austria. Administratively it belongs to the Val Pusteria, of which the Valle di Tures e Aurina is the wildest northern branch. The municipal territory, spread over almost 105 square kilometres but home to little more than 1,300 people, is made up of several settlements: the main village of Selva dei Molini, set around the small reservoir that powers the community, the hamlets of Selva di Fuori and Selva di Dentro along the access road, and Lappago, the most remote and highest of the settlements, at the head of the valley beneath the glacial peaks. Surrounded by summits over 3,000 metres, including the Gran Pilastro and the Punta Bianca, the valley is one of the quietest and least crowded corners of the Tures and Aurina valleys.
Lake Neves and the Vedrette di Ries-Aurina Nature Park
The natural heart of Selva dei Molini is Lake Neves (Neves-Stausee), an artificial basin lying at 1,857 metres at the foot of the glaciers that crown the head of the valley, fed by the Rio Neves, Rio Val Cesa and Rio del Paso streams. The dam holding it back, built between 1962 and 1965, stands about 92 metres tall, one of the highest in South Tyrol, and its crest, which can be walked, offers a spectacular view over the surrounding glaciers; the collected water is channelled through a 17-kilometre pressurised tunnel down to the Lappago hydroelectric power station. A large part of the municipal territory, including the Lake Neves basin, falls within the Vedrette di Ries-Aurina Nature Park, one of the most important protected areas in South Tyrol and one of the most heavily glaciated stretches of the entire Alpine arc, home to high-altitude environments, glacial lakes and an alpine wildlife still largely untouched. The lake can be reached by car along a narrow mountain road, closed in winter due to avalanche risk, with paid parking in the summer months.
The Mills and Farming Culture of Selva di Dentro
The name Selva dei Molini tells the story of the village on its own: recorded as early as 1160 as Mullenwalt in a donation deed to the Benedictine monastery of Sonnenburg, it comes from medieval High German mül, mill, and walt, forest, denoting a wooded valley dotted with water mills. The hamlet of Selva di Dentro, the innermost one toward the head of the valley, was traditionally the centre of this activity: here the many streams flowing down from the Zillertal Alps turned the wheels of mills and sawmills that ground grain and worked timber for the whole community. Today the themed trail Water and Wheel, which winds through Selva di Dentro, retraces this tradition, passing old mills still in working order and information panels explaining how the water wheels functioned, while the Magic of Water museum in the Lappago rectory tells the broader, centuries-old story of the community's bond with the power of water, from the traditional mill to the modern hydroelectric power station.
Hiking, Alpine Pastures and Nature
Selva dei Molini is an ideal starting point for summer hiking, with a network of themed trails gathered under the name The Power of Water, combining valley-floor routes with more demanding high-altitude ones. The Selva dei Molini Alpine Pasture Trail touches the Gorner, Mairhofer, Brunnberg, Möslechn and Weizgruber huts, at roughly 1,900 to 2,000 metres, where hikers can stop for a meal of alpine-pasture produce with views of the Zillertal peaks. Another popular route circles the shores of the Selva dei Molini reservoir, while a more demanding path climbs through the wild Lappago Gorge, secured with walkways and cables, up to the village of Lappago. In winter the area around Lake Neves becomes ski-touring terrain, while down in the valley there are sledging runs and the small Tamarix Snow & Fun family park, designed for families with children.
History and Bilingual Heritage, from Sonnenburg Abbey to Alpine Community
For centuries the history of Selva dei Molini was tied to the nearby Benedictine monastery of Sonnenburg, at San Lorenzo di Sebato, which from the Middle Ages held lordly and judicial rights over the valley, in a relationship not free of tension with the nobles of Tures, who also held territorial rights; only in 1787 did jurisdiction over Selva dei Molini pass definitively to the court of Tures. Selva dei Molini and Lappago remained separate municipalities for a long time, merged into a single administration only around 1928; the parish church of Saint Gertrude, raised to a curacy as early as 1670, remains today the village's main religious monument, while Selva di Fuori, with its Mary Help of Christians church, was part of the Tures parish until 1995. The population, today more than 99 percent German-speaking, with Italian as the minority official language, keeps alive farming and alpine traditions blended with a tourist offer of farmhouses, small family-run accommodations and a growing focus on nature and sustainability across the whole Aurina Valley.
Not to be missed
- Neves Dam and Lake, with a scenic walk along the top of the dam
- Selva dei Molini Alpine Pasture Trail (Gorner, Mairhofer, Brunnberg, Möslechn, Weizgruber)
- Water and Wheel themed trail among the old mills of Selva di Dentro
- Hike through the Lappago Gorge to the Magic of Water museum
- Circular walk around the Selva dei Molini reservoir in the Vedrette di Ries-Aurina Nature Park
To see
What to see in Selva dei Molini
Routes · Trovido Route
