The small village centre of Vadena clings to the steep woods of the Monte di Mezzo, which reaches towards Caldaro and Appiano
Image gallery: Vadena Centro
In the middle of the village of Vadena (Pfatten Dorf), which was already mentioned in the medieval Vigilius letter in the 11th century as "Uatina", the Schloss-Hof is enthroned. It quasi forms the centre of the village: The multi-storey building is known as Vadena Castle and dates back to the 13th century. Today, the town hall can be found here, and next to it there is a kindergarten and a primary school. Two streets then branch off from the small centre: One leads south below the porphyry cliffs, past the other small districts of the municipality.
The other crosses the Brenner Motorway and touches the new development area of Vadena Nuova (Neupfatten) before crossing the Adige River on the Vadena Bridge with its characteristic white arch.
This bridge connects Vadena with Laives and Bronzolo on the opposite bank - a symbol of the dialogue and cooperation with the neighbouring municipalities. For this very reason, the "Lights on the Bridge" event was organised several times on this building, a dinner with local products, music, light, audio and video installations. Nearby, the works have started to enable the revitalisation of the Adige.
The history of this area goes back to prehistoric times, and you can still reach several witnesses of this on foot today. On the two hills where the Castelchiaro ruin and Varco Castle are enthroned, there were already settlements in the Bronze Age. At the Horse Teeth rock formations, remains of a hillfort from the late Iron Age can still be seen. In addition, the Vadena Trail starts in Vadena and leads you over the wooded Monte di Mezzo mountain to the Big Monticolo Lake.
