The memorable ostentation and vanities of the Hapsburg Court in Madonna di Campiglio and a life of hardship and mass emigration in search of work, was the destiny of the villages crossed by the imperial carriages to the resort at the foot of the Brenta Dolimites. These are, perhaps, the most evident contrasts in the history of Valle Rendena, now one of the greatest tourist attractions in the whole of Trentino. A very green valley framed by superb mountains, Adamello, Presanella and the Brenta Dolomites, dotted with villages rich in history and tradition that, since the abandonment of field work,have become places of genuine and simple hospitality in the manner of mountain people. Besides the incomparable natural beauties, rightly protected in a Nature Park, the life and traditions of the Rendena people should be probed with curiosity. The yellow polenta and the "trisa" to stir it in the copper are still used today. The wheelbarrow, instead, with the grindstone to sharpen knives and the grinder are symbols of this valley abandoned for decades by youth and men in their prime. The so-called "Molete" emigrated almost everywhere in the world in search of work. Madonna di Campiglio, Pinzolo and the whole of Valle Rendena owe most of their current fortune to beautyful mountains. Indeed places like the Vallesinella Waterfalls, Campanil Basso or the Path of the Bocchette, right in the heart of the Brenta Dolomites, are unique, as are the San Giuliano lakes and peaks like Care' Alto and the Lobie or Mandrone glaciers in the Adamello Presanella mountains.
Places visited every summer, like the many refugees, by hundreds of thousands of people attracted by the legendary charm of the Dolomites or stories of the White War that stained the peaks with blood during World War II. The green Rendena, through which the river Sarca flows, has also a dense network of paths and several side valleys. The most famous one is Genova, a real paradise of nature furrowed by the tumultuous water of a branch of the torrent flowing down from the Mandrone glacier. Climbing to the summit, or just walking in the woods (perhaps looking for mushrooms), let us remember that we are in the heart of one of Trentino's Nature Parks. You only have to look around you to guess the reason.