St. Nicholas Church in San Nicolò

The highest located district of Caldaro, San Nicolò, can be found along the mountain road leading to the Passo della Mendola mountain pass. Originally called Mondevinum ("Wine Mountain"), in the 16th century the small village took over the name of its church patron St. Nicholas - "St. Nikolaus" in German, "San Nicolò" in Italian. The sacred building dates back to the 13th century and the Romanesque period, which can still be seen on the walls of the tower basement and the western façade. Its present appearance, however, dates back to the time around 1520, when it was rebuilt in Gothic style by masons from the Lombardic town of Como.

When the church tower with its white roof threatened to collapse due to the ringing of bells over the centuries, a second tower was built in 1880. This neo-Gothic steeple is clearly different from the original one: made of rhyolite and covered with a green roof, it houses five bells today.

Inside, you can admire valuable frescoes by Bartlmä Dill Riemschneider dating back to 1530 as well as a miraculous image of Our Lady of Sorrows (Mater Dolorosa) that started crying in 1733 in one of the nearby farmsteads. Since that point of time, again and again people have pilgrimaged to this place to see the picture. The image is a copy of the artwork carried out by Giovanni Battista Salvi da Sassoferrato, an Italian Baroque painter. And how to reach the St. Nicholas Church? It rises in San Nicolò, a district of Caldaro, more precisely in the Via Heppenheimer road. Along this road there is a parking space as well as a bus stop.