Trento–Malè–Mezzana Railway

For its first fifty years the line from Trento to the Val di Sole was a tram. In the valleys it is still called one.

It opened in 1909, when Trentino was still Austrian, as a metre-gauge electric tramway: 60 kilometres long, and for 43 of them it ran in the road. By the end of the Second World War the track and the cars were so worn out that closing it was considered. Instead it was rebuilt from end to end as a proper mountain railway, four kilometres shorter, on its own track, with tunnels, a 2,670-metre bore under the Faè and a concrete arch over the gorge of the Noce more than 140 metres high, which the operator says was for a time the highest railway bridge in the world. The new line opened between 1960 and 1961, at first with the old tramcars; new electric trains followed in 1964. People in the Val di Non still call it the tram, or the Vaca Nonesa, the Non valley cow.

Today it is an ordinary regional railway, running all year. Its trains leave from beside Trento's main station, cross the vineyards of the Adige plain, climb into the apple orchards of the Val di Non and follow the Noce into the Val di Sole, where the line was extended past its old terminus at Malè in 2003 and 2016. At Daolasa and Marilleva the trains stop beside the ski lifts.

The line has its own station at Trento, a few metres from the main station on the Brenner line. As far as Gardolo, on the city's northern edge, the track has a third rail, laid so that standard-gauge freight could reach a factory there; from then on it is metre gauge, electrified at 3,000 volts. The trains run north up the Adige valley to Lavis and across the Piana Rotaliana, a flat plain of gravel planted with vines, to Mezzolombardo.

Into the Val di Non

At Mezzolombardo the railway turns away from the Adige and starts to climb, on grades of up to 50 per thousand and curves as tight as 80 metres. The Val di Non opens out above: a broad, high valley of woods and apple orchards, scattered with castles. Past Dermulo, just before Cles, the line meets the gorge of the Noce at the Santa Giustina dam and crosses it on a great concrete arch, built between 1957 and 1959, 78 metres across and more than 140 metres above the riverbed. Beyond it lies Cles, the valley's main town, above the lake the dam created.

Into the Val di Sole

Past Cles the line passes under the Faè in its longest tunnel, 2,670 metres, and comes out onto the Mostizzolo bridge, high over the Noce: the gateway to the Val di Sole. Castel Caldes stands opposite Caldes station, and the train reaches Malè, the old terminus. The last stretch, about 11 kilometres, was added in two steps, to Marilleva in 2003 and to Mezzana in 2016. At Daolasa and Marilleva 900 the stations connect with the lifts of the Folgarida–Marilleva ski area, a rail-and-cable system the operator describes as the only one of its kind in Italy. The line ends at Mezzana, at the edge of the Adamello Brenta nature park; a further extension towards Fucine and the Tonale pass is being studied.

The trains

The main fleet is the ETi 400: fourteen electric units built by Alstom from 2005, first in red and white and some now in the green and blue of the Trentino livery. Four FiReMa units of 1994 also run, partly stripped of seats in summer to carry bicycles as the "Treno + Bici". The Stanga railcars that opened the rebuilt line in the 1960s are stored, and the operator keeps a historic train, a 1909 coach behind a 1929 motor car, for special runs.

The line runs every day, all year. On weekdays and Saturdays there is a train about every hour, some running only as far as Malè and a few short workings only to Mezzolombardo; on Sundays and public holidays there is a through train every two hours. The full run takes just under two hours; the 17:18 from Trento, which skips the smaller stops, takes 1 hour 39 minutes. Most of the smaller halts are request stops.

Trento to Mezzana — Monday to Saturday

Mezzana to Trento — Monday to Saturday

Sundays and public holidays

Getting to Trento

The line's Trento station stands a few metres from the main station, on the Brenner line and the Valsugana line from Venice.

Times as of October 2026, from Trentino Trasporti's timetable for the line (opens in a new tab), valid from 10 September 2026 to 8 June 2027, checked train by train against the operator's own timetable data.

The line is part of Trentino's regional network, and a ticket is priced by distance, the same on the train and on the province's buses: from €1.10 for up to 4 kilometres, and under €6 even for the full 66 kilometres to Mezzana. A return costs twice the single. Tickets are sold at the staffed stations in Trento, Mezzolombardo, Cles and Malè, at ticket machines, and in the transport apps, which take 10% off; bought on board, a single costs 50 cents more. Children under six travel free with a paying adult.

Visitors staying in Trentino's hotels and other accommodation can travel for nothing: the Trentino Guest Card, included with the stay, covers public transport in the province, this train among it. Fares as of October 2026.

Interrail and Eurail do not cover this line. The Ferrovia Trento-Malé-Mezzana and its operator, Trentino Trasporti, are both listed by name among the Italian trains the pass is not valid on. The pass does cover Trenitalia's regional and long-distance trains to Trento.

The Trentino Guest Card does. Given free to guests of participating accommodation for up to 20 days, it covers public transport in Trentino, trains included, for journeys that start and end in the province. There is also the Libera Circolazione: a week of unlimited travel on the province's trains and buses for €35.90, loaded on a named Smart Card.

For this line alone no pass is worth buying: the whole trip costs less than €6.

Checked October 2026 against Interrail's table of railway companies (opens in a new tab), Visit Trentino (opens in a new tab) and Trentino Trasporti's fares (opens in a new tab).

The line passes through three different landscapes, and something worth stopping for lies in each: a city of prince-bishops, a valley of castles and orchards, and a mountain valley with a national park on its doorstep. Four are on the line itself; San Romedio and the Val di Rabbi need a local bus.

Trento has the widest choice and makes the easiest base for a day trip up the line and back. Malè, in the middle of the Val di Sole, is the place to stay for the side valleys.

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