Cavalese

Main town of the Val di Fiemme, home of the Magnifica Comunità and gateway to Alpe Cermis.

A short history

Cavalese sits at a thousand metres, on the sunny side of the Val di Fiemme, and has been its centre for centuries. It is a village of stone and timber houses, with an old core gathered around the square and the old workshops.

The heart of its story is the Magnifica Comunità di Fiemme. Born in the Middle Ages, it is an ancient self-governing institution that still manages the shared woods and pastures of the valley on behalf of the families of Fiemme. Its seat is the frescoed palace that dominates the village, once the residence of the bishops of Trento and now a museum. Here you find paintings, documents and the memory of a way of managing the mountains that has lasted more than eight centuries.

Above the village the Alpe Cermis cable car rises to the meadows and ski runs of the mountain. In winter it is a ski area, in summer a balcony of meadows and trails above the valley. Cavalese remains the point of reference for the Val di Fiemme, among fairs, markets and the life of the community.

What to see

• The Alpe Cermis, the mountain above the village, reached by cable car from the centre among ski runs and high meadows.
• The palace of the Magnifica Comunità di Fiemme, an ancient frescoed bishops' seat, now the museum of the institution that governs the valley's woods.
• The old centre with its square, stone and timber houses and the workshops that tell the life of the Fiemme community.