Races in Trentino-Alto Adige

Cross the Brenner Pass and you quickly realise something is off with the map: the signs are bilingual, villages are called both Brixen and Bressanone, and you’re served sauerkraut right next to pasta. Trentino-Alto Adige has been part of Italy only since 1919, and South Tyrol still speaks German at 70%. In some valleys, they even add a third language, Ladin, inherited from the Latin of the legions. Bolzano plays the role of northern capital, with its medieval arcades and its museum where Ötzi rests, the Iceman found in a nearby glacier, who died 5,300 years ago. Trento holds the south, more Latin, around its frescoed square. Merano pampers its thermal baths, Bressanone its cloisters, and Brunico keeps watch over Val Pusteria 🇮🇹.

As for the terrain, let’s be direct: it goes up. The Dolomites occupy the east with their limestone towers that turn bright pink ten minutes before nightfall — locals call it enrosadira, and a local trail race even took the name. The Sella massif forms a compact block surrounded by four passes, a favourite playground for cyclists. To the west, Ortles dominates everything from its 3,905 metres, in Stelvio National Park, Italy’s largest alpine park. Right next door, the Stelvio Pass stacks up its 48 hairpins, something every cyclist wants to do once. The Brenta Dolomites rise on their own, isolated from the rest of the range, with their ledges carved into the rock face 🥾.

And then there’s Lake Garda, which shows up where you least expect it. Riva del Garda and Arco sit right at the far north, wedged between the water and limestone cliffs — climbers from all over the world come here in winter, because it’s mild when everywhere else is under snow. It completely changes the game for the season. The high ground stays runnable from June to September, not much longer, but the Garda area lets you run year-round. November and December are even pleasant there ☀️. Another curiosity, higher up: at Lake Resia, a 14th-century bell tower rises out of the water, the only remnant of a village drowned by a dam in 1950. The inhabitants were rehoused; the bell tower stayed.

The race calendar in Trentino-Alto Adige is made for lovers of the mountains. The Dolomyths Run starts from Canazei in July and loops around the Sella, a classic of the alpine calendar. The Brixen Dolomiten Marathon climbs from Bressanone up to the alpine pastures in June. The Ortler Sky Trails circle the South Tyrolean giant from Sulden. The Stelvio Marathon attacks the pass’s slopes in July, and the Garda Trentino Trail offers several formats in spring starting from Arco. The XTERRA Dolomiti di Brenta loops around Molveno, the Enrosadiratrail runs its edition in October on the Ladin side, and the Top Dolomites mixes runners and cyclists in Pinzolo. On the road, Bolzano’s BOclassic brings together the world’s distance-running elite every 31 December in the city-centre streets, a tradition fifty years old. The Marcialonga Running reprises in September the course of the famous cross-country ski race, the Trento Half Marathon livens up the capital, and the Garda Trentino one runs along the lake in November. In January, La Ciaspolada is run outright on snowshoes 🌨️. Cyclists, for their part, target the Maratona dles Dolomites, its huge crowd of participants and its passes closed to traffic, or the Hero Südtirol for rougher gravel 🚵.

After a race in Trentino-Alto Adige, you eat Tyrolean, and you understand why the portions are generous. Smoked speck is sliced thin, canederli — big bread dumplings — land in a broth, and apple strudel wraps things up without debate 🥨. The apples, by the way, come from Val Venosta, one of Europe’s largest orchards. In the glass, Lagrein and Gewürztraminer come from here, the latter owing its name to the village of Tramin (Alcohol abuse is dangerous for your health; consume in moderation). As for local figures, the mountains have produced their best-known ambassador here: Reinhold Messner, born in Bressanone, the first to climb Everest without oxygen and then to complete all fourteen peaks over 8,000 metres 🏔️. The biathlete Dorothea Wierer, from Brunico, has filled her trophy cabinet with crystal globes. More unexpected: Giorgio Moroder, the producer who invented electronic disco and scooped three Oscars, grew up in Ortisei, in Val Gardena 🎹. So, a lap of the Sella or a relaxed loop along the Garda shore? Check out the local trails and half marathons, and get your legs ready 👟.