Best Things to Do in Valvestino

Things to do in Valvestino

1. 

   01 Outdoors

   Drive the Strada del Valvestino up from Gargnano

   • SP9, Gargnano to Turano; about 12 km to the dam
   • 45 minutes each way, longer with stops
   • Free

   The SP9 leaves the Gardesana at Gargnano, climbs through olive terraces to Navazzo, then dives into the valley: a string of rough-cut tunnels, a bridge across an arm of the reservoir, and long stretches of single-track road hanging above the water with the forest closing in. It was built by the Austrians when this was the edge of their empire, and it still feels like a frontier road. Allow far longer than the distance suggests, drive with headlights on and expect to reverse for a lorry at least once.

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2. 

   02 Sightseeing

   Stop at the Lago di Valvestino viewpoints and the Ponte Cola dam

   • Along the SP9 between Navazzo and Turano
   • 1 hour
   • Free

   The lake is artificial, created in 1962 when the Ponte Cola dam was built to feed the hydroelectric plant at Gargnano, and it still does that job: it is a working reservoir rather than a place to swim or launch a boat, and the level drops through late summer. There are lay-bys along the road and at the bridge where you can pull in, walk a few metres and look down the green water to the forested headlands. In a dry autumn the old road and stone walls appear above the surface. The dam itself is at the lower, Gargnano end.

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3. 

   03 Culture & history

   Walk through the five hamlets

   • Turano, Armo, Bollone, Moerna, Persone
   • Half a day by car and on foot
   • Free

   Turano is the comune seat, with the town hall, the shop and the main church; Armo, Bollone, Moerna and Persone are smaller, reached by side roads that climb off the main one. Each is a knot of stone houses with wooden galleries, hay lofts, a wash-house and a church tower, and each has its own view down the valley. Old paths and mule tracks link them, so you can park in one and walk to the next in half an hour. The dialect, the roofs and the wayside crucifixes all say Trentino rather than Lombardy, which is what this was until 1934.

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4. 

   04 Outdoors

   Climb to the meadows at Bocca di Valle

   • Above Moerna and Persone, marked paths
   • 3–4 hours
   • Free

   Above the upper hamlets the forest opens onto a broad grassy saddle called Bocca di Valle, one of the passes that link the Valvestino to the mountains on the Idro and Ledro side. It is reached on marked paths and old military tracks from the hamlets, a steady climb of a few hundred metres through beech and then pasture, with the whole valley and the reservoir laid out below. Chamois and roe deer are common at dawn and dusk. This is the walk we’d pick for a first visit, and it’s in our pick of the best Lake Garda walks.

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5. 

   05 Culture & history

   See the hamlet churches and wayside chapels

   • All five hamlets
   • 1–2 hours
   • Free (leave a donation)

   Five hamlets means five parish churches, each far bigger than the current population warrants, with Baroque altars, painted ceilings and cemeteries that record the same handful of surnames for three centuries. Between them, the roads and paths are dotted with small chapels and shrines, some with faded frescoes, that were the valley’s way of marking the route in fog and snow. The churches are usually locked outside Mass; the bar in Turano or a neighbour can often find the key if you ask politely.

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6. 

   06 Food & wine

   Eat spiedo and Tombea cheese in a valley trattoria

   • Turano and the upper hamlets
   • 2 hours
   • €20–35 a head

   There are only a couple of places to eat in the valley, and they are the real thing: family trattorie serving Brescia’s spiedo (small birds and pork spit-roasted for hours, on Sundays), polenta with mushrooms from the woods, casoncelli pasta, and the raw-milk Tombea cheese from the malghe above the hamlets, a Slow Food presidium. Portions are large and prices are not lake prices. Opening is seasonal and mostly weekends outside July and August, so phone before you come up.

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7. 

   07 Family

   Picnic by the reservoir with children

   • Shore of Lago di Valvestino
   • 2 hours
   • Free

   This is not a lake for swimming, being a cold, steep-sided working reservoir, but there are a couple of grassy spots near the road bridge and at the upper end where you can sit by the water, skim stones and watch the trout rise. Children are usually more taken with the tunnels, the echo under the bridge and the frogs in the ditches than with the scenery. Bring everything, including water; there is nothing to buy along the shore. Keep an eye on the water’s edge, which shelves steeply and is very cold.

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8. 

   08 Outdoors

   Loop over Capovalle to Lago d'Idro

   • Valvestino, Capovalle, Idro, Salò
   • Full day
   • Free

   The road doesn’t end in the valley: it climbs on from the hamlets over the pass to Capovalle and drops to Lago d’Idro, a smaller, warmer lake with proper beaches where you can finally swim. Come back down the Val Sabbia to Salò and along the shore to Gargnano for a loop of roughly 100 km that takes a full day with stops. It is one of the best drives in the province and, apart from the Idro beaches in August, almost nobody is on it.

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9. 

   09 Outdoors

   Ride the Valvestino road on a road bike or e-bike

   • SP9 from Gargnano
   • Half a day
   • Free; bike hire in Gargnano or Salò from about €35 a day

   Cyclists come to the Valvestino for the same reason drivers do, minus the tunnels being a worry: the climb from Gargnano is long, steady and nearly empty, the reservoir section is flat enough to look around, and the hairpins up to the hamlets and on to Magasa finish the job. Count on 25 to 30 km and around 1,000 metres of climbing to the top of the valley. Lights are compulsory sense in the tunnels. The full route is in our guide to the best Lake Garda bike rides.

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10. 

    10 Sightseeing

    Carry on up to Cima Rest and the thatched barns of Magasa

    • Magasa and Cima Rest, above Turano
    • Half a day
    • Free

    From Turano the road climbs another 20 minutes to Magasa, the last village, and then to the plateau of Cima Rest at 1,200 metres, where hay barns with steep straw roofs stand in open meadows and paths lead up to Monte Denervo. It is the natural end to a Valvestino day and the best walking in the area; we cover it in our guide to Magasa. The last stretch of road is narrow with passing places and not for anything bigger than a car.

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11. 

    11 Evening

    Stay for dusk and the stars

    • Any of the hamlets
    • Evening
    • Free

    Evenings in the Valvestino are the quietest thing you will find within an hour of the lake. The sun leaves the valley early, the deer come out onto the meadows below the hamlets, the church bells ring the hour across the water, and with no towns and no street lights to speak of the sky is properly dark. If you are staying in one of the few rooms or apartments up here, eat early, walk out to the edge of the hamlet with a torch and a jumper, and look up.

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Valvestino in pictures