At Dolomit, we are always excited to welcome people from the rest of the world and recently we had the pleasure to receive a very special family: the Yurtfolk! LuAnne, Brian, Harley and Owen stayed with us for a few days, and together we explored a little piece of Trentino, from the Dolomites to Lake Garda. LuAnne works for BCA Study Abroad, a no-profit organization offering college-level programs inspired by peace and justice values.
Chapter 1 – The arrival. Here comes the train, finally our guests got to Trento after a long and adventurous travel! We are excited and anxious to give them the best possible welcome: what’s better than a gelato and a walk in the historic center of the capital city of our region? Then we visited the Training Centre for International Cooperation, where we met Marco and our guests learned about the organization and Trentino’s activism in the field of international cooperation.
Chapter 2 – From the Dolomites to Lake Garda. This has been a particularly intense day: we headed to mountains, where we visited a few facilities of the Nature Park Adamello Brenta (PNAB). Adolfo, the keeper of the amazing LEED certificate Villa Santi, one of the most beautiful PNAB facilities, welcomed us with homemade – and truly appreciated – shortbreads! From a distance, we could admire the profile of the stunning Brenta Dolomites, still covered with snow. After having enjoyed some fresh mountain air, we headed to a hidden gem of our region: the Giudicarie valley. Diego, a representative of the Ecomuseum Judicaria, guided us through one of the most beautiful landscapes of Trentino, characterized by well-preserved alpine villages couched on gentle slopes. The day concluded gloriously with the visit of the picturesque medieval village of Canale di Tenno, that overlooks Lake Garda.
Chapter 3 – City of Culture. Rovereto is the second largest town of Trentino, and it is renowned for its vibrant cultural life. This visit was literally packed with culture indeed! We met Paolo, who shared with us the story of a great community project that resulted in the restoration of a WW1 trench; we enjoyed the collection of the War Museum, hosted inside Rovereto castle; we appreciated the depth and richness of the town thanks to the guide of our art history instructor, Anna.
Chapter 4 – Walking on the edge of Lake Garda. February might not be the best season to fully enjoy the outdoors, but the mild climate of the Lake Garda area allows pleasant walks also in wintertime, so we took our guests to the Busatte-Tempesta trail. This trail is as easy and family-friendly as spectacular, and you can have a bird’s eye view of a good chunk of the largest lake of Italy (as the picture shows!). After enjoying Riva del Garda charming historic center, we concluded our visit at LABA Trentino, our major partner, and were able to appreciate the warmth of the staff, the vibrant school life and the creativity of the students’ projects.
Chapter 5 – The departure. Well, these have been intense days, but the adventure was not finished yet: the group was able to admire the MUSE, Trento’s cutting-edge science museum, with its mountain-shaped architecture and innovative collection display, before catching the train to visit Venice. We said goodbye, and, as always when it happens to have much welcomed guests, we hope to see them again in the future!