Madruzzo
Madruzzo is a dispersed municipality of the Valle dei Laghi, in the province of Trento, formed on 1 January 2016 through the merge...
Updated 20 July 2026
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The story
The story of Madruzzo
Madruzzo in the Valle dei Laghi, Between Calavino and Lasino
The municipality of Madruzzo was created on 1 January 2016 through the merger of Calavino and Lasino, two towns that had already shared a joint administration between 1928 and 1953, before separating again and finally reuniting decades later. The town hall is in Lasino, while the municipal territory, covering about 29 square kilometres, also includes the hamlets of Calavino, Castel Madruzzo, Lagolo, Pergolese, Ponte Oliveti and Sarche, the latter a road junction at the entrance to the Valle dei Laghi on the way to Lake Garda. The landscape alternates a cultivated valley floor, where vineyards and olive groves concentrate, with wooded slopes climbing toward Monte Bondone, down to the narrow valley carved by the Sarca torrent, which marks the municipality's western boundary. This variety of environments, together with the presence of several lakes, makes Madruzzo one of the most representative territories of the Valle dei Laghi, a natural hinge between the city of Trento and Lake Garda.
Lake Toblino and the Castle on the Water
Lake Toblino, at an elevation of 245 metres, is one of the most photographed spots in the Valle dei Laghi: its waters lap the walls of Castel Toblino, a manor rising on a small promontory almost entirely surrounded by the lake and linked to the shore by a narrow isthmus. The castle's origins date back to the 11th-12th century, when it was an episcopal fief held by the lords of Toblino; its present Renaissance appearance is due to works commissioned by the prince-bishops of Trento, Cardinal Bernardo Cles and, later, the Madruzzo family, who turned it into a residence for illustrious guests connected with the Council of Trent. The entire basin, recognised as a biotope since 1992 for its naturalistic value, is fringed by reed beds that host rich waterfowl life, including great crested grebes, grey herons and cormorants. Today the privately owned castle can be visited and houses a restaurant, and it continues to feed legends of love stories and ghosts said to haunt its shores on full-moon nights.
The Madruzzo, Prince-Bishops of Trento
The municipality takes its name from the Madruzzo family, one of the most important dynasties in Trentino's history, whose origins are linked to the castle standing in the hamlet that still bears its name. The earliest records of the manor date to 1161, when Prince-Bishop Adalpreto II granted it in fief to Gumpone and his nephew Boninsegna, founders of the first Madruzzo family. Over the following centuries, through marriages and inheritance, the family consolidated its power until it produced, between 1539 and 1658, four consecutive prince-bishops of Trento: Cristoforo, who opened the Council of Trent, Ludovico, Carlo Gaudenzio and Carlo Emanuele, with whom the male line died out. The first three also attained the rank of cardinal, carrying the family's name and its small Trentino fief onto the stage of European politics, between the Habsburg court and the papal one. After the Madruzzo line ended, the castle passed by inheritance to other noble families, but it still stands today as the most direct link between the municipality and the family that gave it its name.
Vino Santo and the Nosiola Landscape
The Valle dei Laghi, and with it Madruzzo, is the homeland of Nosiola, the only native white-berried grape of Trentino, grown on well-exposed terraces and alluvial fans among the vineyards surrounding Calavino, Lasino and Sarche. From the most loosely bunched and healthy Nosiola grapes, harvested late and selected bunch by bunch, comes Vino Santo Trentino DOC, described as the passito of all passiti: no other wine remains in natural drying for so long. The bunches are laid out on arele, traditional wooden racks placed in attics, where they stay until Holy Week, drying slowly thanks to the constant ventilation of the Ora del Garda, the wind that rises from Lake Garda along the valley. The result is a sweet wine with a golden amber colour, intense aromas and a velvety taste with a characteristic saline note. Local wineries offer visits and tastings, often around events such as DiVinNosiola, telling a tradition rooted in the valley's distinctive microclimate.
Lakes, Canyons and Nature Excursions
Besides Lake Toblino, the territory of Madruzzo holds the small Lake Lagolo, an alpine body of water in the hamlet of the same name, and looks onto the chain of lakes that gives the whole valley its name, together with the nearby lakes of Santa Massenza and Terlago. At the municipality's western edge opens the Limarò canyon, the spectacular gorge carved by the Sarca torrent through red and grey limestone walls, which can be explored along trails and panoramic viewpoints revealing giant potholes and shapes sculpted by water over the centuries. The local hiking network links the hamlets to the slopes of Monte Bondone and the edges of the Sarca River Park, offering walking and cycling routes suited to different levels, often paired with food-and-wine stops at wineries and farmhouses. This mosaic of lakes, gorges and woods, combined with its closeness to Lake Garda, makes Madruzzo an ideal base for slow tourism, between nature, history and genuine flavours.
Not to be missed
- Castel Toblino, the castle on the lake, once a residence of the prince-bishops of Trento
- The Lake Toblino biotope, among reed beds and waterfowl
- Castel Madruzzo, cradle of the prince-bishop family
- Vino Santo Trentino DOC tasting at a Valle dei Laghi winery
- A hike through the Limarò canyon along the Sarca torrent
To see
What to see in Madruzzo
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Routes in Madruzzo
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