Caldes is a comune in the province of Trento, Trentino-South Tyrol region of Italy, about 50 kilometers from Trento.

Trentino-South Tyrol · Trento

Caldes

A scattered Val di Sole commune on the Noce, six hamlets gathered around a thirteenth-century tower-house castle that once belonged to the Thun family.

698m

Elevation

50 km / 31 mi

Nearest hub (Trento)

1,102

Population

May–Oct

Best time to visit

Recognised as

Borghi più belli d'Italia

Why come

Caldes sits at around 700 metres in the lower Val di Sole, along the Noce river, thirty-five kilometres northwest of Trento and below the southern ridge of the Brenta Dolomites. The commune is a scattered municipality of six hamlets: Caldes itself, Samoclevo, San Giacomo, Cassana, Tozzaga, Bordiana and Bozzana, strung along the slope between 635 and 767 metres. Castel Caldes, built between 1230 and 1235 by Rambaldo and Arnoldo da Cagnò as a five-storey tower-house, controlled commercial traffic up the Val di Sole together with the higher Rocca di Samoclevo. In 1464 the Thun family acquired the castle and rebuilt it in its current form, with sixteenth-century wall paintings of saints, friezes and coats of arms across the upper rooms. It now belongs to the autonomous province of Trento and operates as a venue of the Castello del Buonconsiglio museum network. Caldes joined I Borghi più belli d'Italia in recognition of its preserved rural cores and the castle that anchors them.

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Gallery

7 photos · scroll →

Known for

Castel Caldes
Five-storey tower-house begun in 1230 and rebuilt by the Thun family from 1464, with sixteenth-century painted rooms and coats of arms, now a Buonconsiglio museum venue.
Borgo di Caldes
Stone-built historic centre below the castle, member of I Borghi più belli d'Italia for the preservation of its rural architecture and lanes.
Samoclevo
Upper hamlet at 767 metres above Caldes, paired in the medieval period with the Rocca di Samoclevo to control traffic on the Val di Sole road.
Chiesa di San Bartolomeo
Parish church of Caldes in the centre of the borgo, with a bell tower visible across the surrounding hamlets and slopes.
Fiume Noce
Glacial river running below the village from the Adamello-Presanella group, used for rafting and kayaking on the stretches between Caldes and Mostizzolo.

When to visit

Best months · May–Oct

Best
Hot or crowded
Quiet
Mostly closed

May through October is the open season in the Val di Sole: the Noce runs high with snowmelt from May through July for the rafting season, and the slopes above Caldes are green for hiking from June onward. July and August are warm at 700 metres, cooler than the Trento valley but still busy with summer visitors crossing toward the Brenta Dolomites and the Stelvio. September and October are the quiet shoulder months, with clear air, low water on the river and the chestnut and walnut harvest across the hamlets. November through April is the winter pause: Castel Caldes opens by appointment, snow holds on the higher hamlets, and the closest ski areas operate from Marilleva and Folgarida fifteen kilometres up the valley.