Earth pyramids in the valley of the Rio Gasterer

The Renon earth pyramids are the highest and the most aesthetically pleasing in Europe. Earth pyramids are a phenomenon of erosion. They originate where ice-age glaciers have deposited moraine clay in valleys. When it is dry, it is rock-hard. If it comes into contact with water, it turns into a clayey pulp that flows down into the valley. However, when protected from the rain by large stones, the clay remains dry and hard. Only the part around the stone erodes. This is how earth columns are formed and become higher each time it rains. If the top stone falls off the peak, the column is certainly doomed to a quick decline because the clay is exposed to the rain and then carried away by it.

The earth pyramids on the Renon can be marvelled at in three ravines: in the Rio Fosco valley between Longomoso and S. Maria, in the Rio Rivellone valley below Soprabolzano and in the valley of the Rio Gasterer at Auna di Sotto.


By car: Bolzano - Renon ca. 14 km to Auna di Sotto.

By bus 165: start in Bolzano every hour on working days. You esc at Auna di Sotto where starts the walking way.

By cablecar & railway Renon: In Bolzano starts every 4 minutes a cable and in only 12 minutes you arrive to Soprabolzano. There starts every halb hour the Renon Train and arrive in 5 minuts to Costalovara. You follow the way number 12 and after a walk for about 30 minuts you arrive to Auna di Sotto to the way "Keschtnweg" and after 45 minutes you arrive to the view points of the earth pyramids.