Trentino-Alto Adige · Trento
Moena
The largest village in the valley, Ladin-speaking, dressed in Ottoman costume for three days every August.
Picked by Peter Benei
Letter to come
Visiting
- Best time
- Jun–Sep, Dec–Mar
- By car
- 1 h 5 min from Bolzano
- Population
- 2,571
- J4°
- F6°
- M8°
- A12°
- M16°
- J21°
- J23°
- A23°
- S18°
- O14°
- N8°
- D4°
- Best
- Hot or crowded
- Quiet
- Mostly closed
Daytime air temperature, averages for 2020–2024. Weather data by Open-Meteo.com.
Why come
Moena sits at 1,184 meters at the entrance to Val di Fassa, which climbs north toward Canazei and the Sella massif. To the southeast a side valley rises toward the Passo San Pellegrino and the Marmolada group, while a plateau above the village, reached by cable car, opens onto the Catinaccio, Latemar and Pale di San Martino to the south. The village is the largest in the valley and functions as its entrance point, with the high peaks visible on three sides and the pastures of San Pellegrino working land rather than backdrop.
What holds the place together is less the geography than what the two festivals and the church commemorate: a language kept alive as an everyday tongue, a costume festival built around a foreign soldier's arrival, and a painter who left and came back. Moena reads less like a single Alpine village and more like a crossing point, between valleys, and between a local story and the outside events that keep getting folded into it.
How to get there
From Treviso (TSF), about 2 h 30 min by car.
Verona (VRN) is about 2 h 33 min away.
By car from the center of Bolzano 1 h 5 min or Trento 1 h 26 min.
Coming by train into Trento? Moena is about 1 h 26 min away by road.
First time driving in Italy? Read our complete manual.
What to see
Chiesa di San Vigilio
Parish church rebuilt across the centuries, with a gilded wooden altar by Valentino Poschiavin and 18th-century paintings by Valentino Rovisi. It also holds work by Domenico Chiocchetti.
Chiesa di San Volfango
Small Romanesque church next to the parish, with 15th-century frescoes and a wooden Baroque ceiling carved by Giovanni Guadagnini in the 17th century.
Museo Ladin de Fascia (sezione Moena)
The Ladin cultural museum network with a Moena exhibit on local language, costume and rural life in the lower Val di Fassa.
Val San Pellegrino
Side valley climbing southeast from Moena toward the Passo San Pellegrino and the Marmolada group, with summer alpine pastures and winter ski runs.
Alpe Lusia
Plateau above Moena reached by cable car, with views onto the Catinaccio, Latemar and Pale di San Martino in the southern Dolomites.
From the guides
Where to eat
Not our picks, but places the guides put their name to: a Michelin star, a Gambero Rosso fork, a Slow Food snail, a Michelin Key for the hotels. Worth a table, a counter, or a night when you pass through.
InAlto Alfio Ghezzi DolomitesBistrot
InAlto Alfio Ghezzi Dolomites carries two Gambero Rosso tables, plus a spot in the Michelin Guide.
Malga PannaRistorante
Malga Panna holds one Michelin star and two Gambero Rosso forks (85/100).
Malga RoncacAgriturismo
Malga Roncac holds a Gambero Rosso listing and a spot in the Michelin Guide.
3 more places the guides name in Moena
Agritur El MasRistorante
Agritur El Mas holds a Michelin Bib Gourmand.
ForestaRistorante
Foresta has a Michelin Bib Gourmand to its name.
Ostaria TyrolRistorante
A Michelin Bib Gourmand, at Ostaria Tyrol.
Before you sit down: how to order at a restaurant, how to spot a tourist trap, what aperitivo is and how the Italian bar works.
Living here
Could you live here?
Moena is at the end of the road.
- A village of 2,571. The nearest town of 5,000 people, Primiero San Martino di Castrozza, is 1 h 8 min away: past our 15-minute rule, which makes this the end of the road.
- Bolzano/Bozen, a city of 106,568, is 1 h 5 min by car. Further than our 30 to 60 minutes, a long way for the hospital visit or the monthly shopping.
The rules come from our series Where to Move in Italy, written from the places we have lived: Part 1, The End of the Road · Part 2, The Small Town · Part 3, The City · Part 4, The Postcard · Part 5, The Other Half. The towns we would pick are in Part 6, The Best Towns.
- Population 2,571, down 4.8% since 2015
- Nearest city Bolzano, 1 h 5 min drive
- Nearest national health service hospital Cavalese, 20 km as the crow flies · how healthcare works in Italy
- Homes in the center: €3,400 to €4,400 per m² to buy
All the numbers Common questions, designations, lists and sources.
More about living here
- Remote
- Pharmacy in town
- Full fibre reaches 65% of homes
- Primary school in the comune
- Earthquake zone 3, low hazard
- Treviso airport (TSF), 2 h 30 min drive, the nearest with scheduled flights
- Regional capital Bolzano, 1 h 5 min drive
If you are moving here
Who lives here
8% of residents are foreign citizens, most often from Romania, North Macedonia and Ukraine, against 9% across Italy. There are 269 people over 65 for every 100 children under 15, against 216 across Italy. 60% of homes have no resident, holiday homes and empty ones counted together, against 27% across Italy. Trento province ranks 1st of 107 in Il Sole 24 Ore's quality of life ranking for 2025.
Health and schools
The nearest emergency room is in Cavalese, 20 km as the crow flies. The nearest major one is in Bolzano, 27 km away. The nearest children's emergency room is in Bolzano, 27 km away. The nearest IB school is Realgymnasium Bozen, 27 km as the crow flies.
Information, not medical advice. Confirm with a professional.
Taxes
Trento has its own property tax, IMIS, in place of IMU. 7% pensioner tax: this town is not in a qualifying area.
Information, not tax advice. Confirm with a professional.
What it costs
The average household in Trentino-Alto Adige spends about €2,620 a month, €500 of it on food, against about €2,170 across Italy. A family of three pays about €302 a year for water, on the Trentino-Alto Adige average. In Trento, the provincial capital, in September 2026, an espresso cost €1.41, a meal in a pizzeria €13.90 and a man's haircut €24.84.
Climate and risk
It is in climate zone F, the coldest of Italy's six, with no national limit on when the heating runs. 33% of residents live in a zone the national maps rate medium for floods. 3% live in a zone rated high or very high for landslides.
These shares cover the whole comune, not any one street. Check an address on IdroGEO.
Moving from abroad? Which visa you need. Sources: ISTAT, the Ministry of Health, ISPRA, the Finance Ministry, the Ministry of Enterprise, Poste Italiane, the comuni, the IB, International Schools Database, Il Sole 24 Ore, Cittadinanzattiva.
Known for
LA TURCHIA
Three-day August festival reenacting an Ottoman janissary's arrival in Moena after the 1683 Siege of Vienna, with costumes, a sultan and Turkish flags hung from windows.
LADIN VAL DI FASSA
About three-quarters of residents speak Ladin as their first language. Moena holds the seat of the Comun General de Fascia, the Ladin institutional body.
DOMENICO CHIOCCHETTI
Moena painter who decorated the Italian Chapel on Lamb Holm in Orkney while held there as a prisoner of war, then returned to live in the village.
Common questions
- What is Moena known for?
- Moena is the largest village in the valley, Ladin-speaking, dressed in Ottoman costume for three days every August.
- Where is Moena?
- Moena is a comune in the province of Trento, in Trentino-Alto Adige, at 1184 meters above sea level.
- What is the nearest airport to Moena?
- The nearest airport with scheduled flights is Treviso (TSF), about 2 h 30 min by car.
- How long is the drive from Bolzano to Moena?
- About 1 h 5 min by car.
- When is the best time to visit Moena?
- Best in Jun–Sep, Dec–Mar. July is the warmest month, averaging 23 degrees, and May the wettest, with about 19 rain days.
- Which other towns are like Moena?
- Canazei, Falcade and San Vito di Cadore.
- How many people live in Moena?
- 2,571 residents, by ISTAT's count on 1 January 2025.
- Is Moena a good place to live?
- By the rules in our Where to Move in Italy series, Moena is at the end of the road: the nearest town of 5,000 people, Primiero San Martino di Castrozza, is 1 h 8 min away. The nearest city, Bolzano/Bozen, is 1 h 5 min away by car. The nearest national health service hospital is in Cavalese, 20 km as the crow flies. Full fibre reaches 65% of homes.
Tags & data designations · numbers · sources
Recognized as
The numbers
- Elevation: 1184 m
- Population: 2,571
- Surface area: 82.6 km²
These figures were compiled from public directories: ISTAT, OpenStreetMap and Wikidata, and from the official listings of the guides named on this page. Town details change; verify with official sources before you travel.
The ranked lists
Lists Moena appears in
- The best high-altitude villages with a serious restaurant in Trentino-Alto AdigeTrentino-Alto Adigeabove 800 mserious restaurant6 towns · smallest 820 residents
- The best small ski towns with a serious restaurant in Trentino-Alto AdigeTrentino-Alto Adigeski areaserious restaurantsmall6 towns · smallest 1,446 residents
- The best small towns that eat well in the province of TrentoTrento provinceeats wellsmall7 towns · smallest 266 residents
- The best ski towns that eat well in the province of TrentoTrento provinceski areaeats well8 towns · smallest 266 residents
- The best towns with a serious restaurant in the province of TrentoTrento provinceserious restaurant8 towns · smallest 820 residents
- The 9 best small high-altitude villages that eat well in Trentino-Alto AdigeTrentino-Alto Adigeabove 800 meats wellsmall9 towns · smallest 266 residents
Similar
Towns like Moena
What all six share with Moena: high in the mountains · mountain towns above 1,000 metres
The letter
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