INFO VAL DI SOLE

 Mezzana has founded a large part of its recent fortune as one of the richest towns in Val di Sole on tourism. This is due to the beauty of its mountains, the waters of the river Noce, which is famous throughout Europe for canoeing and the ski slopes that animate winter tourism. However, agriculture and cattle raising still plays an important economic role, with the presence at Mezzana of the “Presanella” cheese factory. As well as the main village of Mezzana there are the two hamlets of Roncio and Marilleva: the former is a charming Alpine village that has risen up around a small church; the latter is a paradise for skiers.

Mezzana was definitely populated during Roman times. This is testified to by its Latin name “Mettius”, and several archaeological finds. At Mezzana there was also a Rhaetian castle bears witness to a human presence many centuries before the birth of Christ. During the middle ages many nobles built houses in Mezzana. Important Trentino families such as the Cles and Thunn had residences there. In the 18th century two smallpox epidemics decimated the population. Famous people born in Mezzana include Antonio Maturi (1686-1751), an important Trentino prelate who became the Archbishop of the Greek Aegean Islands and Pietro Cavalari, who in 1809 was one of the captain peasants that, together with Andreas Hofer, fought against the Franco-Bavarian domination of Tyrol.

Two churches, Saint Peter and Paul’s parish church and the Madonna di Caravaggio, built next to each other in the heart of the village, are the most important architectonic and artistic buildings in Mezzana. The former was built by craftsmen between 1498 and 1536, to replace the earlier medieval building. The latter was built in the Baroque style in 1707. The parish church has two late gothic wooden statues, four splendid 17th century wooden altars, a 19th century painting by Antonio Ridolfi (1824-1900), a local painter who lived at Sienna and a cycle of pre-Raphaelite style frescoes (1927), the work of Carlo Donati (1874-1949) of Verona. The adjacent chapel has three wooden altars that have been painted to imitate marble. It has a mid-eighteenth century painting attributed to the Dalla Torre, painters from the village and an altarpiece by Giuseppe Andreis (1822-1880) of Rovereto.

The mountains of Mezzana offer the possibility of excursions through one of the most beautiful landscapes in the valley. Both sides of the valley have something to attract nature lovers and well marked pathways to ensure their safety. Worth a visit are the two small lakes situated between the peaks of the Presanella group of mountains with the Cross of Peace on top of Piz del Mèzdi, the woods and the farmsteads above Roncio on the road that leads to Cima Mezzana (2845 m).