Directions
The Olive Trail starts from the info point in Viale delle Palme, where the Art Nouveau architecture of the Casinò Municipale and exotic plants recall the 19th-century splendour of the Habsburg Kurtort.
We make our way towards the centre and pass the decidedly more austere Chiesa Collegiata di Santa Maria Assunta to take the slope leading up to Arco Castle, around which the mediaeval town has developed. From here on, the olive grove of Arco begins, a green space squeezed between the town and the rocky walls that encloses more than 40,000 olive trees.
At the junction with the road that climbs towards Laghel, we take the path that winds along the foot of Coste di Baone between rocks, dry stone walls and expanses of olive trees. Along the trail, there is no shortage of viewpoints inviting us to take a break among the olive trees. Here the vegetation, climate and landscape become decidedly Mediterranean.
After about 3 km, the path crosses the asphalt road to Padaro. We descend for a few hundred metres until we reach the Olif de Bòtes, which, with an estimated age of 900 to 1,000 years, contends with the Olif de la Gort in Nago for the record of the oldest tree in Garda Trentino.
We retrace our steps and take the path that descends to the right towards the village of Vigne, pass the church and start climbing again towards Dosso di Romarzollo, a hill planted with olive trees between Vigne and Arco.
After passing the Dosso di Romarzollo we leave the olive grove behind us and approach the town centre. We walk along Via Lomego and pass by the Arboreto, once the park of the villa of Archduke Albrecht of Austria, now converted into a public garden with trees and shrubs from all over the world.
We cross the Stranfora arch, the ancient city gate, to enter the medieval heart of Arco, where among the alleys with evocative names and small squares we can still breathe in a village air with the flavour of times gone by. From here we follow Via Vergolano to return to our starting point.
