A place of strength, a viewpoint, a spiritual place: The church hill of St. Hippolytus offers a breathtaking view on the Valle dell’Adige valley
At the end of the commercial zone of Tesimo, the village road meets the Passo Palade Road, a panoramic route for motorcyclists and mountain bikers. The houses around this junction belong to the hamlet of Narano. The bus that takes hikers from the Adige Valley to the high plateau on the low mountain range of Tesimo, where numerous paths lead through the surrounding forests, also stops in this village. One of the most beautiful hikes starts at the Hippolyt car park in Narano.
The wide forest road follows the Contemplation Trail with its numerous bronze reliefs and takes you steadily uphill towards St. Hippolytus. After about 20 minutes, you reach the "Royal Lodge of the Burgraviato": The hill with the Church of St. Hippolytus, which is decorated with some of the oldest preserved frescoes in South Tyrol. Behind the church and the inn of the same name, the Adige Valley lies at your feet - the view extends from the Texel Group near Merano to Bolzano with its mountain backdrop. If you take the opposite direction at the car park, namely downhill to the left through the forest, you will reach the Narano Pond, a biotope at the foot of a climbing wall.
The small Narano (Naraun) is considered the oldest settlement site in South Tyrol. The hill of Hippolyt or Hyppolyt was already inhabited in the Neolithic Age. Finds from the Bronze and Iron Ages have been preserved: arrowheads, knives and brooches. And if you look carefully at the round rocks on the hill, you will see various depressions, so-called shell stones, which cannot be precisely assigned. The Tesana Longobard Fort, which was destroyed by the Franks in 590 AD probably stood in Narano. It is said to be the origin of the municipality of Tesimo.
