Fodor's Travel Talk Forums - Trip Report Rovereto, Trento, Bolzano Trip Report

My family “tacked on” a visit to these cities at the end of a 2 week Italy trip. Click on my user name for my report on Venice/Florence/Rome. Our family is me, DH, and 2 teens. DS is very interested in WWI and we just don’t have good WWI museums in the US the way they do in Europe. We chose this area because the road that lead up to the Brenner Pass is rich in WWI history and it is very different from the other areas of Italy we were visiting.

We rented a car at the Venice airport from Sixt. Very easy to do and had no problems. We used Google Maps on our phone and I had a map of northern Italy. We stuck with the autostrade—it was mid-November and we didn’t want to chance a snowstorm. And on the way back it was dark so we weren’t going to see anything. We chose to go by car vs. train because we wanted the flexibility. Parking is a bit of a pain but we managed it.

We first stopped in Rovereto to see the WWI museum there. Their website is extremely informative, it really pays to explore it and click on all of the links.
Museo Storico Italiano della Guerra

http://www.trentinograndeguerra.it

I found a 42 page guide to all of the sites in the area. Many of them you have to hike to and we were not going to do that—it was cold and we didn’t have time. I am glad we got a snapshot of this area, but to really see it you need to come in the summer or even in September/October when the guided tours of various areas are still going on. I looked into those but we were too late for them. This is something where I would recommend going with a guide—so that you can find the trenches nearby and see the forts on the mountain tops.

All of the museum exhibits are in Italian but there are some English language cards that explain each exhibit in the room. While driving in to Rovereto we saw the memorial tower and the bell. We enjoyed the town of Rovereto and the walk to the museum. We parked in a lot right next to a large grocery store. We got snacks from there and called that a late lunch.

We drove to Trento and parked in the lot for the church—finding parking lots was not difficult, they are clearly marked. But finding open ones can be a challenge. We ate dinner at a beer hall—Forsterbrau—and it was really good. The beers were fantastic. We stayed at the Albergo Accademia. There was a king sized bed and a sofa bed in the loft. Not the most amazing room but it was ok. The breakfast was fantastic! No hot foods but plenty of yogurt, hard boiled eggs, meats, cheeses, breads, coffee, tea, juice etc. We left our luggage at the hotel and explored.

The Trento Duomo is in a wonderful square. There was a market going on that morning-fun to see. The church is very pretty and very old. The even older church underneath is interesting as well. We had a nice walk up to the castle there—pretty streets and interesting architecture. I forgot to get the Trento pass from our hotel so it cost us 10E to get into the museum (kids 16 and under were free) The castle is incredible—amazing exhibits and English explanation cards. It is a maze and really fun. Loved the architecture. This is a must see! Trento was probably my favorite town-bustling with students, lovely streets.

We drove to Bolzano and had a quick lunch in the pizza place across from the Archeological Museum. It was actually quite good. The museum did not disappoint. They have the link to the audioguide that you can download on your smart phone, so we all did that. The guide is well done. It was also really interesting to see “update” cards throughout the museum detailing what new information they have found from new scientific analysis techniques using existing samples from Otzi.

Then we drove back to Venice and stayed at Hotel Anthony. The dinner was passable and the room was ok for a place to stay before leaving. The best part is that the staff were very helpful and they got us a cab at 4:30 am for our flight home.

As I said above, I look forward to returning to the area and hiking through parts of it. It was a nice respite from crazy busy tourist places and the larger cities we had visited earlier.