Renon Railway

A very special narrow-gauge railway can be found on the Renon High Plateau. It was opened in 1907, only four years after the Mendola Funicular in Caldaro, one of the steepest funiculars all over Europe, and ran directly from the Piazza Walther square in Bolzano up to the Renon. It was the time of the Belle Epoque, when the first guests reached the Renon High Plateau, located 1,000 m higher than South Tyrol's main town, with the cog railway.

In 1966, the cog railway was replaced by a cable car. The Renon Railway - "Rittner Bahn" in German, "Trenino del Renon" in Italian - with its historic engines, however, was preserved and connects today on 7 km length the villages of Maria Assunta, Soprabolzano, Costalovàra, Stella and Collalbo. The panoramic views on the Dolomites from the train route are phenomenal.

Some years ago the cable car was replaced by a modern aerial cableway, the valley station is a little further to the east of the Piazza Walther square, in the Via Renon road in Bolzano. Since 2021, the Renon Railway has been managed by the STA - South Tyrolean Transport Structures. And how to reach it? The new Renon Cable Car takes you from Bolzano to Soprabolzano, where the "Rittner Bahnl" - how it is called by the locals - starts. In the Christmas season it becomes a special place: At the stations in Soprabolzano and Collalbo a small Christmas market takes place.