Terre d'Adige
Terre d'Adige is a municipality in the province of Trento created on 1 January 2019 through the merger of Zambana and Nave San Roc...
Updated 21 July 2026
This season · July · Summer
What to do in Terre d'Adige now
The story
The story of Terre d'Adige
Terre d'Adige in the Piana Rotaliana
The municipality of Terre d'Adige was created on 1 January 2019 through the merger of the former municipalities of Zambana and Nave San Rocco, following a consultative referendum held in 2016 and formalised by regional law in 2018. The new administrative body, seated in Zambana, brings together a territory of just over 16 square kilometres, bounded by the Adige river, the eastern slopes of the Paganella and the neighbouring municipalities of Mezzolombardo, San Michele all'Adige, Lavis and Vallelaghi. The population, just over three thousand residents, is spread across three distinct settlements: Zambana, now the administrative seat, Nave San Rocco, the centre closer to the Adige, and Zambana Vecchia, the ancient village rebuilt after the 1955-56 landslide. This scattered, multi-centre configuration, typical of municipalities born from mergers in Trentino, keeps the identities of the two original communities alive while sharing services, schools and administration.
Apple Orchards and Fruit Growing in the Piana Rotaliana
The Piana Rotaliana, within which Terre d'Adige lies, is one of the most fertile agricultural areas in Trentino, shaped over millennia by the alluvial deposits of the Adige and the Noce. Here fruit growing, and apple cultivation in particular, has for decades been the backbone of the rural economy, with neat rows of orchards that turn white and pink with blossom in late spring and give back one of the most recognisable landscapes of the Adige valley in autumn. It is no coincidence that the coat of arms of Nave San Rocco, absorbed into that of Terre d'Adige, depicts an apple next to a boat, testifying to the historic bond between the river and the cultivated land. Alongside the orchards, vegetable gardens, small vineyards and plots devoted to traditional market gardening coexist, forming an orderly agricultural mosaic that stretches to the banks of the Adige, crossed by farm tracks and cycle paths that invite a slow-paced visit.
The Adige, the Noce and the River Biotopes
The territory of Terre d'Adige is marked by the meeting of two waterways: the Adige, which forms its western boundary, and the Noce torrent, which flows into the larger river in exactly this stretch of the plain after crossing the Val di Non and the Val di Sole. Along the final stretch of the Noce, between the municipalities of Mezzolombardo and Nave San Rocco, lies the Biotopo La Rupe, a protected area of around 47 hectares established in 1993 by the Autonomous Province of Trento to safeguard one of the last fragments of natural river landscape in the Piana Rotaliana, elsewhere almost entirely regimented by embankments and hydraulic works. The biotope, home to mallards, kingfishers and river nightingales, acts as a small refuge for wildlife within an intensively farmed setting. Quite different, but equally significant, is the rock face of the Paganella overlooking Zambana Vecchia, from which the great landslide of 1955-56 broke away, forever changing the history of the community.
Asparagus, the Cycle Path and the Farming Landscape
Alongside the apple orchards, the product that most identifies the area is the White Asparagus of Zambana, grown since the late nineteenth century in the sandy soils deposited by the Adige and the Noce, particularly suited to this vegetable, which here grows straight and fast thanks to the absence of obstacles in the subsoil. Since 2008 the product has been protected by the municipal De.Co. label, and in spring, during the harvest season, the area between Zambana and Zambana Vecchia becomes a destination for guided field visits, with harvesting demonstrations and tastings. The Via dell'Asparago starts precisely in Nave San Rocco, a roughly seven-kilometre route that can be walked or cycled across the fields to Zambana Vecchia, while the municipal territory is also touched by the wider Adige cycle path, which links the border with Alto Adige to the province of Verona, passing through Salorno, San Michele all'Adige and the Piana Rotaliana.
History and Experiences Between River and Mountain
The history of the two communities that make up Terre d'Adige reflects a close, and at times difficult, relationship with the land. Nave San Rocco owes its name to the ferries, the ancient "navi", that once allowed people to cross the Adige, while its patron saint, protector of travellers, recalls the town's vocation as a place of passage; it was once an independent municipality, suppressed in 1928 and later re-established in 1948. Zambana, on the other hand, still bears the marks of the great 1955-56 landslide, which made the old village uninhabitable and forced its reconstruction on the Adige plain, giving rise to Zambana Nuova; in the historic settlement, the Church of Saints Philip and James still stands today, protected by a massive earthen embankment. Today the two memories coexist in a territory that offers experiences tied to agriculture, from farm and orchard visits to guided asparagus picking, along with hiking and cycling routes that connect the settlements to the countryside and the riverbanks.
Not to be missed
- Blossoming apple orchards of the Piana Rotaliana in spring
- Harvesting and tasting the De.Co. White Asparagus of Zambana
- Biotopo La Rupe along the Noce torrent
- Zambana Vecchia and the Church of Saints Philip and James
- Via dell'Asparago and the Adige cycle path through the fields
To see
What to see in Terre d'Adige
Routes · Trovido Route
