Campo di Trens

Discover Campo di Trens

At 937 metres above sea level, along the Isarco valley between Vipiteno and Fortezza, the municipality of Campo di Trens has 2,679 inhabitants spread across the hamlets of Trens, Stilves and Mules. Anyone looking into what to see in Campo di Trens will find an area where the German language predominates — the official German toponym is Freienfeld — and where the Brenner railway has been passing through since 1867, marking a boundary between the rhythm of Alpine transit and the stillness of the high-altitude mountain pastures. Three medieval churches, a castle documented since the 13th century and trails climbing towards 2,000 metres make up a remarkably rich repertoire for a municipality of this size.

History and origins of Campo di Trens

The name “Freienfeld” — literally “free field” — appears in medieval documents to indicate an area of open land exempt from feudal obligations, a rare condition in the Alto Adige of the 12th and 13th centuries. The Italian form “Campo di Trens” combines this notion of a plain with the main hamlet, Trens, whose name probably derives from the Latin trans, referring to its position beyond a watercourse in relation to the main route through the Isarco valley. The municipal territory has been inhabited since Roman times, when the Via Claudia Augusta provided a connection between the Po plain and Noricum through the Brenner Pass.

In the Middle Ages the area acquired strategic importance. Castel Reifenstein (Castel Tasso) and Castel Sprechenstein were built to control the valley between the 13th and 14th centuries, during a period when the Counts of Tyrol were consolidating their dominion over the Brenner road axis. The hamlets of Stilves and Mules preserve ecclesiastical structures from the Romanesque era, evidence of an organised parish presence as early as the 12th century. During the 19th century, the construction of the Brenner railway (inaugurated on the Tyrolean section in 1867) reshaped the economic geography of the area: Mules became a transit point, while Trens and Stilves maintained an agricultural and pastoral vocation that persists to this day.

In the 20th century, the municipality experienced the tensions linked to the annexation of South Tyrol to Italy in 1919 and the Options Agreement of 1939, when many families were forced to choose between emigrating to the German Reich or remaining and accepting forced Italianisation. This historical fracture can still be read in the bilingual place names and in the linguistic composition: over 90% of the population is German-speaking, according to the latest provincial census data.

What to see in Campo di Trens: 5 top attractions

1. Castel Tasso (Reifenstein)

Built in the 12th century and extended in the 14th, Castel Tasso is one of the best-preserved castles in Alto Adige. Guided tours — managed by the South Tyrolean Castles Association — provide access to the Gothic chapel with 15th-century frescoes, the medieval kitchen with its original hearth and the Stube panelled in Swiss stone pine. The structure has undergone no modern transformations, making it a rare architectural document in the region.

2. Castel Sprechenstein

Visible from the valley floor on a rocky ridge above the hamlet of Mules, this castle dates back to the 13th century. Today it is privately owned and cannot be visited internally, but the trail climbing from the church of Mules to its walls — approximately thirty minutes on foot — offers a view over the confluence of the Vizze valley with the Isarco valley. The partial ruins reveal the outer curtain wall and the keep, still legible in their defensive function.

3. Parish Church of Sant’Osvaldo in Stilves

Documented since the 12th century, the church of Stilves retains a Romanesque bell tower with round-arched mullioned windows and an interior remodelled during the Baroque period. The gilded wooden high altar dates to the 17th century. Stilves itself is a compact hamlet, with farmsteads arranged along a road that climbs from the valley floor: the relationship between rural buildings and the place of worship has remained essentially unchanged since 19th-century cartography.

4. Church of San Valentino in Mules

The small church of Mules, dedicated to San Valentino, features late-Gothic architectural elements in the nave and a cycle of partially restored frescoes that document local pictorial production from the 15th century. The surrounding cemetery, with wrought-iron crosses decorated in the Tyrolean tradition, deserves attention for the artisanal skill still visible in the details of the inscriptions and floral motifs.

5. Vizze Valley trail and high-altitude alpine pastures

From Mules you can access the lower Vizze valley, from where hiking routes lead to alpine pastures between 1,500 and 2,000 metres. The trail to Malga Pianer (Planer Alm) takes approximately two hours and passes through spruce and larch forests before reaching the high-altitude grazing land, where between June and September livestock is still brought up for summer pasture according to the vertical transhumance system documented by the Municipality of Campo di Trens.

Traditional cuisine and local products

The table in Campo di Trens reflects the South Tyrolean farming tradition with precision. Speck Alto Adige IGP is the most widespread product: local butchers follow the production regulations requiring smoking with beechwood and a minimum curing period of twenty-two weeks. Graukäse — a lean, grey-paste cheese made from acidified skimmed milk without the addition of rennet — is produced on the valley’s farmsteads and is recognised as a Traditional Agri-Food Product (PAT) of the Province of Bolzano. It should be served dressed with oil, vinegar and raw onion, according to the preparation known as Graukäse mit Essig und Zwiebeln. In the high-altitude alpine pastures you can also find Zieger, a smoked ricotta with an intense flavour. Canederli (Knödel) — made from stale bread, speck and chives — are eaten in broth or dry with melted butter and are the most common dish in local trattorias. Schlutzkrapfen, half-moon rye pasta parcels filled with spinach and ricotta, are another well-established first course in the local repertoire. In autumn, kitchens prepare the Törggelen: roasted chestnuts, new wine and smoked meat dishes, a gastronomic tradition that in the Bassa Atesina and the Isarco valley marks the end of the grape harvest.

Among beverages, the area produces apple juice from local cultivars — Gala, Golden Delicious and Topaz — processed by cooperative consortia in the valley. Rye bread (Schüttelbrot), crisp, flat and flavoured with caraway seeds (Brotklee) and fenugreek, is recognised as a PAT of Alto Adige and accompanies every meal. Kaminwurzen, a dry smoked sausage handcrafted from pork and beef, is the go-to backpack snack for hikers in the area. There is no food festival specific to Campo di Trens, but village celebrations — particularly the Kirchtag (patron saint’s feast) in Trens during summer — feature stalls with local products, brass band music and traditional dances.

When to visit Campo di Trens: the best time

Summer — from mid-June to mid-September — is the most suitable season for hiking: the alpine pastures are open, the trails are free of snow and daytime temperatures range between 18 and 25 degrees in the valley. July and August see the highest visitor numbers, but tourist density remains low compared to nearby Vipiteno and Bressanone. Autumn, from late September to November, brings the colours of Törggelen and a raking light that sharply defines the mountain outlines; this is when the larches turn yellow and the valley takes on a warm tone, with fewer visitors and more affordable prices at local accommodation.

Winter transforms the area into an access point for the ski slopes of nearby Ladurns (reachable from Mules in a few minutes by car) and the Monte Cavallo ski area above Vipiteno. Night-time temperatures regularly drop below -10°C. Spring is short and variable: snow lingers at altitude until May, but from April the apple orchards in the valley floors come into blossom and the lower trails become walkable again.

How to reach Campo di Trens

Campo di Trens lies along the Brenner motorway (A22), between the exits of Vipiteno (8 km to the north) and Fortezza (10 km to the south). From Bolzano the distance is approximately 50 km, covered in 40 minutes. From Innsbruck, across the Austrian border, the journey is around 60 km via the Brenner Pass. The Mules-Campo di Trens railway station, on the Brenner line (Verona–Innsbruck), is served by Trenitalia regional trains and Intercity services connecting South Tyrol with the rest of Italy: travel time from Bolzano is approximately 30 minutes, from Verona around two hours. The nearest airport is Innsbruck (70 km), followed by Bolzano (50 km, with limited flights) and Verona Villafranca (230 km). A local bus service operated by Südtirol Mobil connects the hamlets with each other and with Vipiteno.

Other villages to discover in Trentino-Alto Adige

Visitors to Campo di Trens who wish to continue exploring the South Tyrolean territory will find Barbiano a short distance away, in the Isarco valley further south, between Chiusa and Ponte Gardena. Barbiano extends along a sun-drenched slope at approximately 830 metres and offers an agricultural landscape quite different from that of Campo di Trens: vineyards and orchards replace the conifer forests, and the Barbiano waterfalls — with a total drop of over 80 metres — are a hiking destination reachable in less than an hour’s walk.

Moving towards the Merano area, Avelengo occupies a plateau at 1,290 metres above Merano, known for the breeding of the Haflinger horse — an equine breed originating from this very area, documented since the late 19th century. The open landscape of Avelengo, with extensive meadows and views over the Merano basin, provides a stark contrast with the verticality of the Isarco valley. Both villages can be reached from Campo di Trens in under an hour by car, making it possible to put together an itinerary that crosses three distinct Alpine environments: the narrow transit valley, the vine-covered slope and the pastoral plateau.