Ritten Unterinn Schaf
Ritten Unterinn Schaf

Auna di Sotto

A viewing platform on the Chestnut Trail, the “Keschtnweg” near Auna di Sotto, offers a nice view on the white Renon Earth Pyramids

In the Middle Ages, the Isarco Valley was still a swampy valley basin, uninhabitable and impassable. Crossing the Renon Plateau was the only way to get to Rome at that time, and so an important path developed there that led past several now historic sites. In the course of centuries, more than 60 emperors travelled through this area, pilgrims found shelter in the hospice in Longomoso.

When the Isarco Valley became passable and the Renon was discovered by wealthy merchants from Bolzano as a summer resort, the landscape changed. Today Auna di Sotto (Unterinn) is a popular and central holiday village on the sunny Renon. You can find it along the Renon Road, a few kilometres after Bolzano: A bus line connects it regularly with the provincial capital and the main village of Collalbo on the Renon. Important South Tyrolean companies such as the window manufacturer Finstral and the wafer producer Loacker are located in the industrial zone on the edge of the village. Auna di Sotto consists of the central village centre around the St. Lucy Parish Church and the farms of Lastebasse, Laste Alte, Eschenbach, Gasters and "die Eicheln".

St. Lucy is the oldest church in the municipality of Renon, but hardly anything remains of the original building today. In the 18th century it was converted to Baroque style and in the late 19th century to Neo-Romanesque style. There are many things worth seeing here for culture and nature lovers, including the 14th century St. Sebastian Church, which was built in gratitude for the fact that the plague spared Auna di Sotto. Near the village stand some of the bizarre Renon Earth Pyramids, columns of earth with a capstone that protects them from collapsing in the rain. The Isarco Valley Chestnut Trail also leads past Auna di Sotto and its rustic wine taverns.

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