Gaido

The mountain village of Gaido is the highest district of Appiano: Here you can experience seclusion and plenty of nature

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The small village of Gaido, or Gaid in German, seen from the Appiano High Route, a recommended spring or autumn hike on the Mendola Ridge.
Foto: AT, © Peer
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These high altitudes offer a marvellous view on the Adige Valley with the provincial capital of Bolzano and the Dolomites in the background.
Foto: AT, © Peer
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From the main village of San Michele Appiano, a well-developed mountain road leads past vineyards and farmsteads to Predonico and Gaido.
Foto: AT, © Peer
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The houses and farmsteads of Gaido are spread across the meadows, including the listed ensemble of the Moarhof and its chapel.
Foto: AT, © Peer
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It is the Chapel of the Fourteen Holy Helpers, a place of pilgrimage from the 17th century, with an artistically designed entrance door.
Foto: AT, © Peer
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The road ends in Gaido and makes way for hiking trails and MTB routes that lead through the mixed forests on the Mendola Ridge.
Foto: AT, © Peer
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Excursions on foot take you from Gaido on the Larchsteig trail to Andriano and Nalles, to the neighbouring Predonico and to the Ice Holes.
Foto: AT, © Peer
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The aforementioned Appiano Ice Holes are a unique natural phenomenon in which warm air is cooled in the cave system of the boulders.
Foto: MF, © Peer
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A mountain bike tour takes you along the Appiano mountain road to Predonico and the wine village of Cornaiano in a little more than two hours.
Foto: AT, © Peer
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The keep of the Castelforte ruins can be recognised high above the Gaido Gorge, seen here from Andriano at the bottom of the valley.
Foto: AT, © Peer
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The mighty Mt. Macaion or Gantkofel (1,866 m a.s.l.) is covered in snow, seen here from Frangarto - below it lies the small village of Gaido.
Foto: MS, © Peer

Guarded by the mighty Mt. Macaion, whose rock faces tower high above the Adige Valley and are already visible from Bolzano, lies the northernmost part of Appiano. Gaido (Gaid) extends above Andriano and Nalles in the forests of the Mendola Ridge, but was already settled many centuries ago. Records from the Holy Spirit Hospital in Bolzano, the Heiliggeistspital Bozen as it was called, tell of the village of Gaude on the site of today's Gaido in the 14th century.

Hikers and mountain bikers can find a well-marked network of hiking trails and MTB routes here: Hidden between meadows and forests there is a small pilgrimage church, which was built by Eustach Franzin von Zinnenberg from Appiano and is dedicated to the Fourteen Holy Helpers. Together with the neighbouring Moarhof farmstead, it is now a listed building. Numerous votive panels, two magnificent oil paintings and a baroque altar adorn the interior of the chapel.

Other trails lead to Mt. Macaion, Andriano and Nalles. If you are travelling by bike, you can discover Predonico and the wine village of Cornaiano. Just below Gaido sits another impressive building: Castelforte Castle, a witness to the Middle Ages, rises on a porphyry rock high above the Gaido Gorge. It was first mentioned in documents in 1220, but today only the keep of the complex is left.

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