Tenno

Tenno sits on the slope above Riva del Garda, on the old road that climbed from the Sarca valley toward the Giudicarie. The territory wraps the upper end of the lake, and the south-facing slopes carry vineyards and olive terraces up toward the settlements above. Two places anchor the commune, a few kilometres apart.

A fortress holds the high ground on a rocky outcrop, built over an older prehistoric site and positioned to watch the road below. North of it, the hamlet keeps to its four streets and a square, stone houses joined by arches, close enough to the mountain lake that the walk between them takes half an hour. The olive groves run along the slopes between all of them, the northern edge of a growing tradition that has otherwise moved south with the climate. What holds the commune together is elevation: a hilltop position that let a fortress watch the valley road, a hamlet keep its shape for centuries, and olives ripen further north than anywhere else that grows them by tradition.