Valley symbol of the Adamello-Brenta Park, rich in water, it was shaped by glaciers in the hard granite rock. Glaciers, waterfalls, enchanting forests. Val Genova, a side valley of Val Rendena, is one of the symbols of the Park.
It stretches for about 17 kilometers from Carisolo to the Bedole refuge (1650 m), upstream of which there is one of the sources of the Sarca river. The tributary of Lake Garda flows through the valley floor with a sequence of spectacular rapids known locally as "scales", interspersed with enchanting plateaus occupied by mountain huts and alpine pastures. The river has its source in the two glaciers above it, the Adamello-Mandron, the largest in Italy, and the Lobbia.
The valley is carved into the tonalite, a granite rock of volcanic origin, and has beautiful waterfalls that also descend from the wooded side valleys: Folgorida, Lares, Nardis to name the largest. Rich in coniferous forests, it hosts a varied alpine fauna, including ungulates, brown bears and golden eagles.
In the upper part of the valley there are many alpine refuges – the "Città di Trento" at 2450 metres and the "Caduti dell’Adamello" at over three thousand metres – and the small glacier museum dedicated to Julius Payer, the great 19th century explorer. In the upper valley there are also important testimonies of the "White War" (the fighting on the glaciers during the First World War). In Carisolo, at the entrance to the valley, do not miss the Geopark visitor centre.
