Rich with
quartz in the heart of the Stelvio National Park, Sondalo is a spectacular
place to reconnect with nature.
Thanks to
its invigoratingly clean air, the variety of its unspoiled landscape, and its
favourable position – high enough to escape the heat and sheltered from the
wind – Sondalo has long been championed for its curative properties.
Off the
beaten track, it is a place suited to those who like the simple things in life
– like nature, or minerals and gemstones. Sondalo is where you’ll find some of
Europe’s most important underground quartz mines.
Out of all
the hiking possibilities, Val di Rezzalo stands out. With its spectacular
biodiversity and eye-catching rural architecture, it represents an open-air
museum of the simplest kind – after leaving the village at the top of the road
behind you, you head into the valley where experience and escape are guaranteed
all year round.
The former
sanatorium village, today the E. Morelli Hospital, was once the largest
sanatorium in Europe, a haven for tuberculosis sufferers. Highly contagious,
such high-altitude clinics – sanatoria – were relied upon before the arrival of
antibiotics to isolate and help cure patients while preventing further
infections. Down the road in Sondalo’s old town, admire the rustic homes and
churches with valuable pieces of art and frescoes attributed to the painter
Giovannino da Sondalo.
A walk around the mountainside town reveals impressive
architecture – particularly the sanatorium village as well as the ‘Liberty’ at
the former sanatorium Pineta di Sortenna, now a religious nursing home.
Today,
Sondalo is also home to a modern multi-use events space and a thriving cultural
calendar featuring events, guided tours, and conferences.
