Places of interest around Val Gardena - Hotel in Selva South Tyrol

Val Gardena is full of surprises and has many tourist attractions to offer, which you should definitely visit as a guest at the 4 star Hotel Dorfer

Gardena Castle:
Gardena Castle is located on the left bank of the Rio Gardena, between St. Christina and Selva and is surrounded by numerous fish ponds. The castle was built between 1622 and 1641 by Engelhard Dietrich from Wolkenstein-Trostburg as a summer and hunting residence. In the mid-19th century, Count Leopold Wolkenstein-Trostburg gifted the castle Gardena Castle to the municipality of S. Cristina, who decided to use the castle as a retirement home. Baron Carlo Franchetti from Venice bought the castle in 1926 and renovated it. The castle has been owned by the Franchetti Family ever since.


Wolkenstein castle ruins:
The castle was built in a Dolomite rock column in the 13th century. It is a primitive castle and has housed countless important families in its long history.
In 1525, the Wolkenstein castle ruins suffered its first destruction, which never led to a reconstruction. The first trace of the owner of the castle dates back to Arnold von Maulrapp in 1237. The building was then transferred to the von Kastelruh family and the von Pradell family of Villanders. The last heiress married a Wolkenstein, who is still the owner today. The castle has held its current name since that time.
Some exterior walls, the courtyard with porphyry pillars and some traces of paintings on the walls are all that remain of the castle.


Museum de Gherdëina:
The Val Gardena Museum, Museum de Gherdëina, is an ethnographic museum located in the centre of Ortisei in Val Gardena. It was opened in 1960 in the Cësa di Ladins. The building serves as a cultural centre for the five Ladin valleys of the Dolomites.
The collections of the museum are distributed over two floors and are divided into six main areas: wood carvings from the sixteenth to the twentieth century, paintings by famous local artists, ancient wooden toys, minerals and fossils of the Dolomites, alpine flora and fauna, archaeological exhibits from the Val Gardena area as well as an exhibition and archive by Luis Trenker.


St. Jacob Church:
The oldest church in Val Gardena was built on the Troi Paian mountain path, which once crossed the Val Gardena and the Dolomite passes and served as a link between Venice and the Valle Isarco.
The church is dedicated to the patron saint of travellers and pilgrims. The cemetery, surrounded by a wall covered with a shingle roof, is impressive and is used to inter the dearly departed of Saint Jacob’s village. The most valuable part of the church is the high alter room with its beautiful gothic frescoes from the 15th century. The altar with the arched columns and gilded figures represent the church dignitaries, the Apostles and angels and are evidence of the importance of local artistic sculpture.