Tenno
Tenno is a municipality in the Garda Trentino area, in the province of Trento, set on a plateau overlooking Lake Garda a few kilom...
Updated 20 July 2026
This season · July · Summer
What to do in Tenno now
The story
The story of Tenno
Tenno on the Plateau above Riva del Garda
The municipality of Tenno occupies a plateau rising above Riva del Garda, in the Trentino side of upper Lake Garda, within the wider Garda Trentino area. The main village, at about 428 metres above sea level, is surrounded by the hamlets of Canale, Cologna-Gavazzo, Pranzo and Ville del Monte, small stone settlements scattered across a territory of nearly thirty square kilometres that climbs from the shores of Garda toward the first slopes of the Ledro Alps. This elevated position gives the municipality a mild, almost Mediterranean climate, favourable to olive growing, and views that stretch from Lake Garda to the peaks enclosing the valley. Its proximity to Riva del Garda and Arco makes Tenno easy to reach, while it retains a rural, secluded character compared with the more touristic towns along the lakeshore.
Lake Tenno and the Reappearing Island
Lake Tenno lies at about 570 metres above sea level, just above the main village, and is famous for the colour of its waters, ranging from turquoise to deep blue depending on the light and the season. The basin was formed by a landslide that dammed the Rio Secco stream, creating a natural body of water that has been protected since 2024 as a local nature reserve, established to safeguard the area's flora and fauna. A geographical curiosity makes it even more distinctive: at the centre of the lake lies a small island, which first appeared in 1986 and is therefore nicknamed the Isola dell'86, and which, during droughts or the hottest months, when the water level drops, turns into a genuine peninsula reachable on foot across a strip of land. The lake's shores, equipped for swimming, draw bathers and hikers during the warm season.
Canale di Tenno, Among Italy's Most Beautiful Villages
The hamlet of Canale di Tenno is one of the best preserved medieval villages in Trentino, documented as early as 1211 and included in the club of Italy's Most Beautiful Villages. Its original urban layout, built around four streets converging on a small central square, has remained almost untouched: stone houses, wooden doorways and characteristic covered passages, known as avvolti, link the buildings in an almost labyrinthine path. After a period of depopulation following the First World War, the village experienced a revival thanks to the Piedmontese painter Giacomo Vittone, who from the 1950s chose it as a place of inspiration, signing his works as Pictor Dominicus. In 1967 the Casa degli Artisti was founded and named after him, and it still hosts Italian and foreign painters and sculptors today, promoting exhibitions, courses and study stays in a setting that blends rural memory with an artistic vocation.
Landscape among Olive Groves and the Varone Waterfall
The territory of Tenno alternates broadleaf woods, upland pastures and terraces planted with olive trees, sustaining an oil-growing tradition as old as the castle itself: as early as the thirteenth century, part of the fortress's revenues was paid in olive oil. Even today, olive growing, favoured by the mild microclimate of the Garda Trentino, remains a defining feature of the local agricultural landscape. The waters of Lake Tenno, seeping into the karst subsoil, feed the Magnone stream, which over thousands of years has carved out a gorge almost a hundred metres deep, giving rise to the Cascata del Varone, known since the nineteenth century as one of the most spectacular natural attractions of upper Lake Garda, even though the visitor park lies administratively within the municipality of Tenno, just a few kilometres from Riva del Garda. Hiking trails connect the main village, the hamlets and the lake, offering routes suited both to family walks and to more demanding hikes up onto the plateau.
History, the Castle and Local Traditions
The first records of the Castle of Tenno date to the early thirteenth century, when the fortification was administered by the counts of Appiano-Ultimo; between 1210 and 1211 the owners ceded their rights to the Prince-Bishop of Trento, Federico Wanga, in exchange for certain fiefs and a rent paid in olive oil, and the stronghold became episcopal property. In 1260 it was granted in feudal investiture to the lords of Arco, who held it for about a quarter of a century, in a strategic position along the road linking Lake Garda to the Giudicarie valleys. The castle is part of a fortified village, a rare settlement type in the Trentino context, and its walls still dominate the town today. Alongside these feudal events sit more recent traditions, such as the Christmas markets that enliven winter in Tenno and its hamlets, and an economy that today combines tourism, agriculture and livestock farming, keeping alive the bond with the land that has always characterised this plateau above Lake Garda.
Not to be missed
- A swim and stroll along the turquoise shores of Lake Tenno
- The Isola dell'86, reachable on foot when the lake's water level drops
- A walk through the medieval alleys of Canale di Tenno
- A visit to the Casa degli Artisti Giacomo Vittone
- A hike to the Cascata del Varone, in the gorge carved by the Magnone stream
To see
What to see in Tenno
Routes · Trovido Route
