# Trentino: bears, over 80 lakes and a retreating glacier

> Trentino's largest park covers 62,051 hectares and is where ten bears from Slovenia were released. The Marmolada tops out at 3,343 m, Riva sits at 65 m.

URL: https://myitalia.it/nature-and-parks/in-provincia-trento
Last updated: 2026-09-11

Trentino's nature runs from 65 meters above sea level at Riva del Garda to 3,343 meters on Punta Penia, the top of the Marmolada, and in between it has brown bears again because ten of them were brought over from Slovenia between 1999 and 2002.

## Adamello Brenta: 62,051 hectares since 1967

The Adamello Brenta natural park was established in 1967 and covers 62,051 hectares, which makes it the largest protected area in Trentino. Over 80 lakes, the Adamello glacier and the Brenta Dolomites all sit inside its boundary.

It is also a UNESCO Global Geopark, a label for geology rather than for monuments. And it is not an empty wilderness: the park authority counts 21 valleys and 49,000 residents within its area.

The park authority itself confirms the valleys, the residents and the Geopark status. The founding year and the surface come from an encyclopedic source, so treat those two as the less certain figures.

## The bears came back by project, starting in 1996

The Life Ursus project began in 1996, and between 1999 and 2002 it released ten bears from Slovenia into the Adamello Brenta park. That is where the Trentino population comes from, not from animals that wandered back on their own.

The count grew to 60 to 78 individuals in 2018 and to an estimated 98 in 2023. The provincial large carnivore portal did not respond when this page was checked, so 2023 is the latest year given here.

The province publishes a new Rapporto Grandi Carnivori every spring. Read the current one, and the local trail notices, before a walk in the Brenta.

## Marmolada: 3,343 meters and the 2022 collapse

Punta Penia on the Marmolada reaches 3,343 meters, the highest summit in the Dolomites, and the mountain carries the largest Dolomite glacier. That glacier is in marked retreat.

On July 3, 2022 a serac broke off and killed eleven people on the glacier. The mountain's ridge is the boundary between the province of Trento and the province of Belluno, drawn along the watershed in 2018.

The cable car that climbs it runs from Malga Ciapela to Punta Rocca, and a 12 km ski run descends on the Belluno side. The glacier's current surface is not given here, because it changes every season: the surveys of the Comitato Glaciologico and of ARPAV are the place to read it.

## Riva del Garda: the same province, at 65 meters

The northern tip of Lake Garda belongs to Trentino, and Riva del Garda, with 17,784 residents, sits at 65 meters above sea level. The Brenta Dolomites are a few tens of kilometers away.

Riva has its own named winds, the Ora and the Balinot. A morning on the lakeshore and an afternoon above the tree line fit in the same day here, and the next section is about what that does to your packing.

## Dress for 2,004 meters, not for the lake

The Passo Rolle weather station, at 2,004 meters in the Dolomites, records an annual mean of 3.2 °C on the 1991-2020 normals. July, the warmest month, averages 11.9 °C, and February averages minus 4.4 °C.

That gap with Riva is the practical point of this page. Summer clothes that suit the lakeshore are wrong on a pass the same afternoon.

## Stelvio: Trentino holds one of three sectors

The Stelvio National Park covers over 130,000 hectares around the Ortles-Cevedale group, across Lombardy and Trentino-Alto Adige. Trento, Bolzano and Lombardy each administer their own sector, with separate offices.

For a walk on the Trentino side, the Trentino sector's office is the one to contact, and its rules are the ones that apply. The park's home page gives neither its founding year nor the height of the Ortles, so neither appears here.

More in [Trentino](/regions/provincia-trento), [the Marmolada](/nature/marmolada), [the 2022 collapse](/stories/the-marmolada-collapse), [the two bear populations](/compare/marsican-bear-vs-trentino-bear) and [Trentino's UNESCO sites](/unesco/in-provincia-trento).

## FAQ

### Are there bears in Trentino?

Yes. The Life Ursus project, launched in 1996, released ten bears from Slovenia into the Adamello Brenta park between 1999 and 2002. The population was put at 60 to 78 animals in 2018 and an estimated 98 in 2023, and the province updates the figure in its large carnivore report each spring.

### How high is the Marmolada?

3,343 meters at Punta Penia, the highest summit in the Dolomites. It carries the largest Dolomite glacier, which is in marked retreat, and on July 3, 2022 a serac collapse on that glacier killed eleven people. The ridge is the border between the provinces of Trento and Belluno.

### What is the biggest protected area in Trentino?

The Adamello Brenta natural park: 62,051 hectares, established in 1967, holding over 80 lakes, the Adamello glacier and the Brenta Dolomites. It is also a UNESCO Global Geopark, and 49,000 people live inside its area across 21 valleys.

### How cold is it on the Dolomite passes in July?

Colder than the valley floor suggests. At the Passo Rolle weather station, 2,004 meters up, the 1991-2020 average for July is 11.9 °C and the annual mean is 3.2 °C. February averages minus 4.4 °C. A warm layer belongs in the pack even for a summer walk.

## Sources

| Fact | Source | Confidence | Valid until |
|---|---|---|---|
| Il Parco naturale Adamello Brenta, istituito nel 1967, con 62.051 ettari e' la piu' vasta area protetta del Trentino: comprende oltre ottanta laghi, il ghiacciaio dell'Adamello e le Dolomiti di Brenta, ed e' riconosciuto come Geoparco UNESCO | [Parco Naturale Adamello Brenta](https://www.pnab.it/); [Wikipedia](https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parco_naturale_Adamello-Brenta) | medium | 2029-12-31 |
| L'orso bruno e' tornato in Trentino con il progetto Life Ursus avviato nel 1996: fra il 1999 e il 2002 dieci orsi furono liberati dalla Slovenia nel Parco Adamello Brenta e la popolazione e' arrivata a circa un centinaio di esemplari negli anni Venti del 2000 | [Wikipedia (dati dai rapporti Grandi Carnivori della Provincia autonoma di Trento)](https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parco_naturale_Adamello-Brenta) | medium | 2027-12-31 |
| La Marmolada, con i 3.343 metri di Punta Penia, e' la cima piu' alta delle Dolomiti e ospita il ghiacciaio dolomitico piu' esteso; il 3 luglio 2022 il crollo di un seracco ha ucciso undici persone sul ghiacciaio | [Wikipedia](https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marmolada) | medium | 2029-12-31 |
| La punta settentrionale del lago di Garda e' trentina: Riva del Garda, 17.784 abitanti, sta a 65 metri sul livello del mare, il punto piu' basso della provincia autonoma di Trento, a poche decine di chilometri dalle Dolomiti di Brenta | [Wikipedia (dati ISTAT e APPA)](https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Riva_del_Garda) | medium | 2027-12-31 |
| Alta montagna alpina: normali climatiche 1991-2020 della stazione Passo Rolle (Dolomiti, Trentino) (2004 m s.l.m.). Temperatura media annua 3.2 °C; mese piu' freddo feb (-4.4 °C di media), mese piu' caldo lug (11.9 °C di media). | [WMO Climatological Standard Normals 1991-2020 - serie trasmessa dall'Italia (stazioni del Servizio Meteorologico dell'Aeronautica Militare), archivio NOAA NCEI accession 0253808](https://www.nodc.noaa.gov/archive/arc0216/0253808/6.6/data/0-data/Region-6-WMO-Normals-9120/Italy/CSV/Passo_Rolle_16021.csv); [ISPRA - Sezione Climatologia Operativa, applicazione 'Valori climatici normali'](https://valori-climatici-normali.isprambiente.it/) | high | 2032-12-31 |
| Il Parco Nazionale dello Stelvio supera i 130.000 ettari a cavallo fra Lombardia e Trentino-Alto Adige, attorno al gruppo Ortles-Cevedale, ed e' amministrato da tre enti territoriali distinti | [Parco Nazionale dello Stelvio](https://www.stelviopark.it/) | medium | 2029-12-31 |

## Image

https://media.myitalia.it/media/region.provincia-trento.1600.jpg
Author: Bops92. License: CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0).
Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Reflection,_Lago_di_Toblino.jpg

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