San Romedio, the Sanctuary That Grows on the Rock

There are places you don't see until you're standing before them. The sanctuary of San Romedio is one of these: it hides in a narrow side gorge of the Val di Non, near Sanzeno, where the wood closes in and the noise of the valley disappears. Then, suddenly, a rock face about seventy metres high and, clinging to it, five churches one above the other. They seem to have grown from the stone rather than been built.

In fact they were erected in wildly different periods, over the course of about nine hundred years, between the year 1000 and the early twentieth century. Walking along the covered stairway of over a hundred steps that connects them, you pass from Romanesque elements to Gothic and Baroque forms, flanked by votive offerings and small chapels. It is a layered building, made by different hands and different centuries, where every flight opens onto a new view of the gorge.

The name comes from Romedio, a hermit who lived, according to tradition, between the fourth and fifth centuries, and who is said to have withdrawn to these crags after renouncing his own wealth. The best-known legend links him to a bear: while he was on his way to Trento, the beast is said to have mauled his horse, and he is said to have tamed it, riding it all the way into the city. Even today, at the foot of the sanctuary, a wildlife enclosure houses a bear, a tribute to that tale.

The wonderful part is arriving on foot. From the village of Sanzeno starts the Path in the Rock, a route carved into the rock of the Rio Romedio gorge that leads to the sanctuary in a far more evocative way than the paved road. Alternatively you can climb up from the two lakes of Coredo, with half an hour through the wood. Leaving the car and walking completely changes the arrival.

San Romedio remains a place of silence, far from Trentino's crowded destinations. It should be visited with respect: it is a living sanctuary, not an attraction. Better out of season and in the early hours, when the gorge is still in shadow and the steps are all yours.

How to get there

The sanctuary of San Romedio is located in the Val di Non, near Sanzeno. By car you take the A22 Brenner motorway, exiting at Trento Nord or San Michele-Mezzocorona, then climb up the valley to Sanzeno, from which a narrow road follows the gorge to the car park at the foot of the sanctuary. By train you can use the Trento-Val di Non line as far as Dermulo and continue by bus towards Sanzeno; from the village there also starts an evocative path carved into the rock.

Practical guides for Roma

• Where to stay in Roma
• What to see in Roma in 2 days
• Where to eat in Roma
• How to get to Roma