Churches in the heart of the Eastern Dolomites

From Val di Fiemme to Primiero, passing through Val di Fassa

Roads meandering through the woods and into the mountains. A journey that today can be done in just a few hours but that once required meticulous preparation and blind devotion. Protecting the wayfarers was St. Christopher, who watched over them from the walls of the churches, with the ever-present figure of the Infant Jesus riding on his shoulders.

It is he who will accompany you on this journey in eastern Trentino, which starts from the woods of Tesero and arrives at the foot of the Pale di San Martino massif, where devotion merges with the history of ancient miners who came from afar.

Church of San Leonardo, Tesero

Your pilgrimage first leads you to the threshold of this church immersed in the woods, a few steps from the village of Tesero, in Val di Fiemme. You find yourself in front of a Gothic building, with a narrow bell tower and pointed roof.

Next to the portal stands a fresco with the figure of St. Christopher, protector of travellers. He keeps them safe from the dangers of the journey and from the mala mors, the sudden death that comes without granting redemption to the believer through the sacrament of confession.

Inside the church you can admire an extensive painting cycle, created by artists from different Tyrolean and Lombard schools. The paintings, created over a period of time from the 15^th to the end of the 16^th century, depict the most significant episodes from the Bible and the lives of the saints, especially that of St. Leonard, to whom the church is dedicated.

Church of Santa Giuliana, Vigo di Fassa (San Giovanni di Fassa)

From the forests of the Val di Fiemme, the pilgrimage proceeds to Val di Fassa and the village of Vigo, at the foot of the Catinaccio. Guiding you on this journey into the heart of the eastern Dolomites is, once again, the figure of St. Christopher.

He is portrayed on the wall of the church of Santa Giuliana overlooking the valley, clearly visible to those passing by on the road. The artwork is large in size but shows the inevitable signs of time, having been created in the 1500s and exposed to the elements over the centuries.

Among the works you can admire inside the church are the 15^th century frescoes from the school of Master Leonard of Brixen and the large wooden and gilded polyptych, considered to be Georg Artzt's masterpiece, made in 1517. Some elements of the piece were stolen in 1966, so today, some of the original wooden works that make up the polyptych are kept in the Diocesan Museum and in the Buonconsiglio Castle in Trento, replaced by copies.

There is a beautiful walk from the village of Vigo to the top of the hill on which the church stands, passing the silent Austro-Hungarian cemetery, the resting place of the fallen of the Great War.

Archpriest's Church of Santa Maria Assunta, Fiera di Primiero

From Val di Fassa, the journey ends at the foot of the Pale di San Martino to visit a church that is easily recognisable thanks to its high frescoed bell tower. A church that has a story to tell.

The Archpriest's Church of Santa Maria Assunta in Fiera di Primiero was built in the 16^th century by the Bergknappen, also known as canopi. These were miners from Bohemia or Tyrol, who in the Middle Ages came to the mountains of Primiero in search of minerals, especially silver.

Their mining activity, although exhausting, was very profitable, so much so that the miners were able to finance the construction of this church, right next to the Palazzo delle Miniere, the mines’ administrative centre and coffer of the extracted silver.

The miners’ wealth is reflected in the church's interior, enriched with beautifully crafted frescoes and sumptuous Baroque-style altars, among which the one dedicated to the 'miners’' stands out for its grandeur.