Italy Guide
Trentino-Alto Adige
The wine road
Wine enthusiasts are well catered for around Bolzano, with a wine road (Strada di Vino) that enables you to indulge in a happy combination of sightseeing and tastings. The 30km route proper begins at Terlano (Terlan) just north of Bolzano, but you can also join it at Appiano (Eppan) and wend your way through sunny vineyards to Salerno (Salurn) halfway between Bolzano and Trento. This is one of the oldest wine-growing areas of all German-speaking regions – some claim that the tradition goes back to the Iron Age – it's also one of the smallest in Italy.
The main village on the route is CALDARO (Kaltern), home to many sixteenth-century buildings in Uberetsch style, combining northern Gothic and southern Renaissance architectural details. Wines from the vineyards around this small village have won numerous awards; one of the best places to taste them is 
Punkt ( 
www.wein.kaltern.com ), a wine bar/information point on the main square. Alternatively, every Wednesday at 4.30pm, the cellars of Kellerei Kaltern and Erste and Neue Kellerei Kaltern ( www.erste-neue.it ) also offer wine tasting – all of them are close to the village centre. Within walking distance, too, on the wine road on the way to Lake Caldaro, the producer Manincor ( www.manincor.com ) is well worth a visit for its combination of modern architecture and traditional estate buildings, as well as tastings of its fine vintages.
Another centre to head for is the village of TERMENO (Tramin), from which the varietal Gewürtztraminer gets its name. Here, you could stop at the enoteca of Elena Walch, a star wine maker in the region.