We managed a quick visit to these AMAZING BOTANICAL GARDENS on our way south from Badia in the Dolomite mountains to Varenna on the shores of Lake Como.  It was a big day with a 7 hour drive, made longer by an additional hour due to a Pass being closed!  Trauttmansdorff Castle is sited just above the beautiful town of Meran which isn’t far from Bolzano. The surrounding valley is smothered in apple trees.  There’s more apple trees than you can ever imagine, even if you live in HB!  They’re planted 2ft apart!

It’s early summer here with the first of the roses out, large tree peony collection OVER, blast it, and the first of the herbaceous peonies just starting.  That’s the thing about gardens – you have to keep revisiting them!

The gardens were spectacular set on a hillside over looking Merano.  Hugely worthwhile and somewhere we will definitely visit again.  They also have a large tourism museum tracking the history of European tourism over the last 200 years.   Time wasn’t on our side so we couldnt visit this, however it looked well worth more than a cursory glance.  Nothing at Trauttmansdorff is mediocre.