This post is also available in: Italiano (Italian)

Villa Welsperg, built in 1853, was once the residence of the Counts of Welsperg. It currently hosts the headquarters of the Paneveggio Pale di San Martino Natural Park Authority (see dedicated page), its technical-administrative offices and the Visitor Centre.

The building is actually made of three different structures, surrounded by a garden located near a lawn-pasture of remarkable size: the actual villa, the deconsecrated church (used for temporary art exhibitions), and a large barn. The latter has been recently restored and turned into an elegant conference room which can accommodate up to 100 people.
Opposite the barn, there is a medicinal garden that hosts several healing plant species widely used in the past.

The whole complex can be accessed thanks to an avenue decorated with a monumental beech tree (Fagus sylvatica), some 300 years old. There is also a horse chestnut (Aesculus hippocastanum), and some linden trees over a hundred years old: the largest were actually planted by the Welsperg family. In particular, there’s one specimen of “wild” linden (Tilia cordata), with dark, small leaves and early flowering, and a “local linden” (Tilia platyphyllos), with brighter, large leaves and later flowering.

Near the villa, there’s the lake of Forte Buso, rich in aquatic species. The very beauty of this place, majestically overlooked by Pale di San Martino (Pala Mountain Group), is further enhanced by a squared grove of silver birches, the garden of ancient roses and several beautiful ferns.

INTERESTING FACTS

In Trentino, linden flowers are traditionally used to make tasty herbal teas, very useful against winter diseases; the more tender leaves are often mixed with salads or used as fodder for the animals. A delicate oil comes from the fruits and, with the help of bees, very tasty honey is widely produced.

The emollient and detoxifying qualities of those trees have been known since ancient times. They’ve also been used to decorate town squares, castles, gardens.
Commonly acknowledged as “great healers”, many important city meetings and gatherings were organized near them, as linden trees were believed to help make the right decisions.

The famous “Banco de la reson” in Cavalese (a place for the community gatherings, but also the site of witch trials) still feature a small round table surrounded by lindens of remarkable size.

This post is also available in: Italiano (Italian)