Borgo Medievale di Canale

Stone vaults carry the alleys of Canale from one courtyard to the next, while balconies heavy with geraniums lean over lanes that have barely changed since the Middle Ages. Abandoned after the war, the borgo was brought back to life by painters, and it now stands among I Borghi piu belli d'Italia on the wooded slopes above Lake Garda.

Why it matters

Canale is one of the few rural settlements of medieval origin in Trentino whose fabric has survived almost without loss. The association I Borghi piu belli d'Italia records the village as known since 1211 and praises the way its barrel-vaulted passages, underpasses and narrow lanes reached the present day intact. The borgo also houses the Casa degli Artisti and the Museum of Agricultural Tools.

What to notice

The signature element is the network of "volti", barrel-vaulted underpasses that connect houses and let residents move between courtyards under shelter; hay barns and balustraded balconies are also characteristic of the village. Facades are of grey local stone, darkened by smoke in the houses where cattle once wintered beneath the living floor. Geraniums are the one deliberately decorative note, repeated on balcony after balcony. From the upper edge of the borgo the view opens over the Sarca valley towards Lake Garda, with olive trees and cypresses betraying the Mediterranean climate at nearly 600 metres. The compact plan combines dwellings, stables, barns and exhibition rooms in the old houses.

Context and history

The village is first documented in 1211, and the wider territory earlier still: a document of 771 mentions "in vico Prantio", the nearby hamlet of Pranzo. Canale belonged to the domain of Tenno castle, which passed to the prince-bishops of Trento in 1027; the castle's story includes the legendary 1439 escape of the Visconti captain Piccinino, later retold by Machiavelli, the 1703 burning by Vendome's troops, and the demolition of the damaged keep in 1922. In 1929 four communes, including Tenno and Ville del Monte, were reunited by royal decree, and Canale became a frazione of Tenno. Depopulation after the Second World War had an unexpected consequence: painters and sculptors began renting the cheap, atmospheric houses, and their presence helped preserve the old stone facades. From that colony grew the Casa degli Artisti Giacomo Vittone, founded in the 1960s, which keeps the village an artists' destination to this day.