This is the largest park in Trentino and the one that protects the Brenta Dolomites: 620.50 square kilometres since 2003, across thirty municipalities. The headquarters are in Strembo, in Val Rendena.

Two very different mountains sit inside the same boundary. To the east, the Brenta group, a Dolomite massif: sedimentary rock formed on tropical sea beds, with the towers, spires and walls the park calls castles of stone. To the west, the Adamello and the Presanella, built of tonalite, a very hard magmatic rock formed deep in the earth's crust. Two geological stories, one authority to manage them.

This page is about the park: the valleys you enter from, how car parks and shuttles work, the park houses, the bear. The massif itself is covered on the Brenta group page, and where to stay and what to do in our guide to the Brenta Dolomites.

Two mountains inside one boundary

You can see the difference from a distance. The Brenta is limestone and dolomite rock, highly permeable: water disappears underground and comes back out lower down, which is why there is karst and why the Vallesinella waterfalls exist. The Adamello and the Presanella are magmatic rock, almost impermeable: water runs over the surface, fed in summer by melting glaciers.

The recognitions follow the same split. In 2009 the Brenta group was inscribed on the World Heritage List: it is system 9 of the Dolomites UNESCO site, the westernmost Dolomite area. The Adamello and the Presanella tell a different chapter of the earth's story and are not part of the Dolomites property. The UNESCO Geopark, on the other hand, covers the whole of the park, precisely because it brings two geological worlds together within a few dozen kilometres.

Three UNESCO recognitions overlap here: the Dolomites, the Adamello Brenta UNESCO Global Geopark and the Alpi Ledrensi e Judicaria MAB Biosphere Reserve.

The Brenta valleys and how to reach them

The valleys the park lists in the Brenta group are Vallesinella, Val Ambiez, Val Brenta, Val di Breguzzo, Val di Tovel and Valle delle Seghe. On the other side there are Val Genova, Val di Fumo and Val di Daone, Val Nambrone, Val Meledrio, Val Algone, Valagola and others.

You cannot simply drive into the busiest valleys. The park's sustainable mobility scheme started in 2003 in Val Genova and has grown to Val di Tovel, Vallesinella, Ritort-Patascoss, Val Algone, Val di Daone-Val di Fumo and Val Biole: you leave the car at the mouth of the valley or take the shuttle buses, which are booked online. Times and fares change from season to season, so check the park's page before you set off.

The bases on the eastern side are Molveno and Andalo, with Lago di Molveno under the walls; on the western side Madonna di Campiglio and Pinzolo. The waterfall trail starts from Vallesinella, above Campiglio.

Water: Lago di Tovel, the waterfalls, the retreating glaciers

Almost every lake in the park is a cirque lake: a round hollow carved by a small glacier tongue, sometimes dammed by a moraine. Lago di Tovel is the exception, and also the largest: it formed when a big landslide blocked the valley. Other clusters of lakes lie on the Adamello and Presanella side, at the Mandrone, Germenega, Cornisello, Serodoli and the Malghette.

The park holds 41 glaciers, the largest glaciated surface in Trentino: 17 small ones in the Brenta group, 7 on the Presanella, 17 on the Trentino side of the Adamello. Compared with forty years ago the total surface has shrunk by at least a third and several tongues have disappeared. The Mandrone glacier is still the largest in the Italian Alps; in the Brenta, by contrast, the glaciers are reduced to small patches.

The brown bear, and how to behave

The brown bear is the park's emblem. It had come close to extinction and today, the authority writes, it is expanding thanks to a reintroduction programme. Wolves live here too. If you walk here, read the coexistence rules the park publishes first: make noise on the trail, leave no food, keep the dog on the lead, never approach.

Among the hoofed mammals there are chamois, ibex (the result of a reintroduction project that ran for years), red deer, roe deer and mouflon, the last introduced by hunters from the 1970s on. Golden eagle, buzzard, goshawk, sparrowhawk, honey buzzard and kestrel nest here; the bearded vulture only passes through. At night there are tawny owl, long-eared owl, Tengmalm's owl and pygmy owl.

The park also publishes a bear bulletin, the Fogli dell'orso, and has a research section devoted to large carnivores. For the rest of the Dolomite wildlife there is our wildlife guide.

The park houses

The visitor centres are called park houses, and there are seven of them, each with its own theme. Four are in the Brenta Dolomites area.

The Lago Rosso park house stands on the shore of Lago di Tovel and explains why the lake used to turn red until 1964: a tiny alga, and the reasons the phenomenon stopped. In 2026 it opened at weekends from 1 May to 1 November and daily from 13 June to 27 September, from 10 to 13 and from 14 to 18, with free entry.

The Orso park house is in Spormaggiore, inside the fifteenth-century Corte Franca palace. The Flora park house is at the Rio Bianco nature area in Stenico, with a path climbing to a karst spring. The UO.MO park house is in San Lorenzo in Banale and deals with the relationship between people and the land. The other three, on geology, wildlife and water, are on the Adamello side. Opening times are seasonal and some houses charge admission: check the park's page.

How it began and how it grew

The park was born in 1967, within the first provincial planning scheme: together with Paneveggio-Pale di San Martino it was, the authority writes, one of the first two provincial parks in Italy. It measured 504 square kilometres then. The act that set out its aims of conservation, research and public use is provincial law no. 18 of 6 May 1988; since 2007 provincial law no. 11 applies.

The area grew: 618 square kilometres in 1987, 620.50 since 2003. The park plan, approved in 1999, lists the bans, limits and requirements for the use of the land, and there are separate regulations for drones, camping, wildlife, ski mountaineering and off-piste skiing. The rules compared with the other Dolomite parks are in our guide to the parks.

The park covers thirty municipalities, four valley communities, twenty-nine common-land administrations and the Comunità delle Regole di Spinale e Manez: much of the land here is collectively owned.

Inside the park

Our pages that fall within the park’s mountain groups.

Hikes

To see

Le cascate Alte di Vallesinella tra le rocce e il bosco sopra Madonna di Campiglio

Sight · Brenta Dolomites

Cascate di Vallesinella

The karst waterfalls above Madonna di Campiglio: three sets of falls in a wood of beech and spruce, reached on an easy walk inside the Adamello Brenta Park.

Il Lago di Molveno visto dall'alto con il paese e le montagne circostanti

Sight · Brenta Dolomites

Lago di Molveno

Named Italy's most beautiful lake more than once: turquoise water, grassy beaches and the Brenta Dolomites mirrored on the surface, with an easy loop that goes all the way round.

Huts

Frequently asked questions

How big is the Adamello Brenta Nature Park?
620.50 square kilometres since 2003, that is 62,050 hectares. At its birth in 1967 it measured 504 square kilometres; in 1987 it became 618. It is the largest park in Trentino.
Are the Brenta Dolomites inside the park?
Yes, and the park is partly named after them. The Brenta group is the Dolomite part of the park and has been system 9 of the UNESCO World Heritage property since 2009. The park also takes in the Adamello and the Presanella, built of tonalite, a magmatic rock with a different geological history.
Can you drive to Lago di Tovel and Vallesinella?
Not all the way, in the busy periods. Val di Tovel and Vallesinella are part of the park's sustainable mobility scheme: you leave the car at the mouth of the valley or take the shuttle bus, booked online. Times and fares change every season.
Are there really bears in the park?
Yes. The brown bear is the park's emblem: it was close to extinction and came back through a reintroduction project, and the authority now describes it as expanding. Wolves are present too. The park publishes coexistence rules and a dedicated bulletin, the Fogli dell'orso.
Where can you learn about the bear?
At the Orso park house in Spormaggiore, inside the fifteenth-century Corte Franca palace. It is one of the seven visitor centres of the park, each with a different theme.
Why did Lago di Tovel turn red?
Because of a tiny alga. The phenomenon lasted until 1964 and then stopped: the Lago Rosso park house, on the shore of the lake, explains why, with the research findings. Entry is free and opening is seasonal.
How many glaciers are there in the park?
Forty-one, the largest glaciated surface in Trentino: 17 small ones in the Brenta group, 7 on the Presanella and 17 on the Trentino side of the Adamello. Over forty years the total surface has fallen by at least a third.

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