The centuries have left varying historical traces in the cultural region of Venosta Valley. The old Roman trade route
Via Claudia Augusta and numerous
castles,
churches and monasteries bear elegant witness to this, as do the
marble village Lasa/Laas and contemporary
museums as well as the two Messner Mountain Museum sites in Solda/Sulden and Juval Castle.
The “
Alpine Road of Romanesque Art” goes from the
Carolingian Benedictine St. Johann monastery in Tubre/Taufers to
St. Veit church and from the mystical Tartscher Bühel hill to Malles/Mals with its five church towers, including the Carolingian
St. Benedict church.
Close to Europe’s highest abbey,
Marienberg Abbey, the Via Claudia Augusta proceeds to the mediaeval village of
Glorenza/Glurns, passing castles with precious frescoes like
Churburg Castle at Sluderno/Schluderns and
Kastelbell Castle. Impressively, the Romanesque trail leads all the way to
St. Proculus church in Naturno/Naturns with its pre-Carolingian frescoes from the 8th century A.D.