Volano
Volano is a municipality in the Vallagarina, in the province of Trento, set in the upper Adige valley just a few kilometres north...
Updated 21 July 2026
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The story
The story of Volano
Volano in the Upper Vallagarina, on the Left Bank of the Adige
Volano lies in the upper Vallagarina, the valley carved by the Adige river between Trento and Rovereto, just a few kilometres north of the centre of Rovereto, on the left bank of the river. The municipal territory borders Calliano, Nomi, Pomarolo and Rovereto itself, placing it at the heart of one of the most densely vine-planted stretches of the entire valley. The village sits at the foot of Monte Finonchio, the hill that closes the eastern horizon above Rovereto, in a basin once shaped by the shifting course of the Adige: until a few centuries ago, before the great nineteenth-century river-regulation works, the Adige traced bends that lapped the settlement, leaving traces still legible in the landscape and in local place names. This position along the route linking Trento to Lake Garda and the Veronese plain made Volano, over the centuries, a landmark for the trade and pilgrimage routes that crossed the Vallagarina.
The Hermitage of Santa Cecilia on the Cengio Rosso
The most striking place in Volano is the Hermitage of Santa Cecilia, a small sanctuary tucked into a ledge of the rock face known as the Cengio Rosso, which rises sheer above the valley north of the village. The earliest certain records of a chapel on this spot date back to 1611, though local tradition links the place to much older devotions tied to the protection of travellers and farmers of the area. Over the centuries the small chapel was enlarged into what is now a proper little church, reachable only via a path that climbs along the rock, offering spectacular views over the upper Vallagarina, the vineyards below and the foothills of Monte Finonchio. Every year, on 5 August, the hermitage becomes the destination of a pilgrimage deeply felt by the local community, who climb up to the ledge for the saint's feast day, keeping alive a tradition that binds popular faith and landscape into a single gesture.
Marzemino and the Vineyards of Volano, a Wine City
Volano has been recognised as a Wine City since 2000, a title that reflects the winemaking vocation of a territory divided into three distinct production areas. In the Ziresi area, Marzemino ripens, the native red grape that ranks among the wine symbols of the Vallagarina, yielding fragrant, well-structured wines grown on sun-exposed terraces and alluvial fans. In the Praolini zone, white grapes prevail instead, such as Chardonnay and Traminer, while towards the Adige, on the border with Nomi and Calliano, lies the Tomi del Adès area. The village's many wineries, several family-run, offer tastings and visits among the vine rows, and every year the Magnalonga, a food-and-wine walk that starts from Volano's Parco Legat and crosses the vineyards toward Castel Beseno, draws hikers and wine lovers from across the Vallagarina, offering a different way to discover the village's agricultural landscape.
The Taio Biotope: a Marsh Among the Vineyards
A short walk from the village, between the municipalities of Volano and Nomi, lies the Taio Biotope, a protected natural area established in 1989 that covers around four hectares amid the vineyards of the Vallagarina. It is a relict wetland, the last trace of the ancient Adige bends that once shaped the valley floor, today preserved as a marshy environment with almost still water, channels, reed beds and patches of hygrophilous woodland dominated by black alder. The vegetation also includes water iris, willows, hazel and hawthorn, while the fauna includes grebes, herons, ducks, numerous songbirds and birds of prey, as well as mammals such as foxes, hedgehogs and various bats, and amphibians and reptiles tied to the aquatic environment. Crossed by a short nature trail, the biotope offers a naturalistic counterpoint to the orderly landscape of the vine rows, and is a reminder of how the river shaped the character of this stretch of the Vallagarina for centuries.
History, Churches and Traditions of Volano
The history of Volano has roots in the early Middle Ages: the village's name already appears in the Historia Langobardorum by Paulus Diaconus, written around 590 AD, evidence of an ancient settlement along the Adige route. The municipality, in its current administrative form, was established in October 1920, but the historical fabric of the village is far more layered, as shown by the church of San Rocco, of fourteenth-century origin and reworked several times, which preserves a fine cycle of votive frescoes. Beside it stands the parish church of the Purification of Mary, the religious heart of the community. Local traditions still find expression today in the historic carnival, with its distinctive parade, and in food-and-wine events tied to local winemaking, while the trails climbing toward Monte Finonchio and linking Volano to the nearby hiking and skiing destinations of Folgaria and Serrada offer, in every season, an active way to discover this corner of the Vallagarina.
Not to be missed
- The Hermitage of Santa Cecilia on the Cengio Rosso, with views over the upper Vallagarina
- The church of San Rocco and its fourteenth-century fresco cycle
- A Marzemino wine tasting at a winery in the Ziresi area
- A nature walk at the Taio Biotope, among reed beds and alder woods
- The Magnalonga through the vineyards, from Parco Legat toward Castel Beseno
To see
What to see in Volano
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