Brancolino

Brancolino lies along the provincial road that runs beside the Adige between Marano and Villa Lagarina. The village belongs to Nogaredo in Trentino, a region of Alpine valleys and vineyards. A quiet lane climbs from the road to the parish church, its walls built in the 13th century. The place once guarded a Roman and early-medieval cemetery where archaeologists found coins and pottery after 1790. A stone slab beside the church recalls the Lodron counts who collected tolls here centuries ago. Higher up, the slope is said to have held the fires of the 1647 witch trials at Nogaredo, one of the last in the region. Brancolino was its own commune until 1928, when it was joined to Nogaredo and later to Villa Lagarina before regaining autonomy in 1955. At the centre stands the parish church dedicated to the Virgin Mary. A Franciscan monastery, founded in 1514 by Veronica Lodron, stood beside it until the early 19th century. A small cemetery nearby contains a chapel built in 1930, its cross marking the end of the lane.