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Writer's pictureAlberto Carniel
May 9, 20173 min read

Calling all hiking lovers: Arte Sella, a place where Art meets Nature

Updated: Sep 27, 2018



Arte Sella is a route in Borgo Valsugana (Italy) where you can admire artworks mixed with nature. This sun built with wood is a masterpiece made by Jaehyo Lee, an artist and sculptor, and called 0121-1110=115075.

With summer right around the corner, you can’t miss out on the beautiful Arte Sella, an alternative trail for nature lovers. Known as the contemporary mountain, Arte Sella is nestled in the middle of Val di Sella, a valley located in Trentino (a mountain region near Trento in the north of Italy). So, if you love nature and contemporary art, Arte Sella will surely steal your heart (and maybe the hearts of a few dates too).


This artwork made by Sally Matthews is called Deers and actually represents a deer built with an iron structure and filled up with leaves. This masterpiece is shown at Arte Sella, an exhibition in Borgo Valsugana (Italy).

About Arte Sella and ArteNatura

Arte Sella represents a unique creative process that weaves a continuous dialogue between creativity and the world of nature. For over twenty years, more than 300 artists have contributed their masterpieces to the decorative track.

And if Arte Sella wasn’t amazing enough, hikers will be pleased to know the artistic heritage of Val di Sella doesn’t stop there. Prior to Arte Sella, there is another trail called ArteNatura. A teaser to Arte Sella, this unspoiled landscape will capture all your senses in its raw beauty: with the smell of moss upon rocks, the crunch of the trail beneath your feet, and the colorful sights of art among the trees. How can you not go?

While Arte Sella is concentrate of masterpieces, ArteNatura is a path that helps you understand how this amazing idea could take place. It’s like a learning process which ultimately leads up to the valley’s largest piece of art: the Tree Cathedral by Giuliano Mauri.

Where Art meets Nature

In this valley, the artwork gains a life of its own. Made from natural materials, these masterpieces find their way among the vegetation. In this way, these pieces are as alive as the wood that hosts them, as alive as the nature that surrounds them. They become one, nature and art, each enriching the other, as if it was always meant to exist this way.


These realistic concrete wolves sculptures are Sally Matthews' artworks exhibited at Arte Sella in Borgo Valsugana, Italy.

Since 1986, Arte Sella and ArteNatura breeds an amazing cycle of artwork that continues to live and die. For this reason, visitors can relive the magic of the landscape and have a different experience each time.

The best example of Arte Sella’s underlying theme is the Tree Cathedral. Realized by the Lombard artist, Giuliano Mauri, in 2001, his work mirrors the size of a real Gothic cathedral. It has three naves formed by eighty columns made with weaved branches, reaching a height of 12 meters. The entire structure covers a surface of 1.230 square meters.

Mauri expresses his passion and reasons for the cathedral perfectly in this quote:

«Inside of these artifices that I’m building there will grow hornbeam plants. The artifices are built to nurture the plants for the next 20 years until they become fully grown. After this time passes, the structures have been designed to rot and become dirt. […] In 20 years, people will take notice of dialogue nature has had with mankind. After all, it is what man has always done. The forgetfulness is only our fault of not knowing, of not recognizing anymore».


Mauri’s first attempt to create a living cathedral in 2001 laid the groundwork for the new “Tree Cathedral”—or “Cattedrale Vegetale”—installed near the northern Italian city of Trento in late 2010. With the artist’s death in 2009, it serves as a memorial to his work and life. The Tree Cathedral consists of 42 columns forming a basilica of five aisles. Fir poles and branches from hazels and chestnuts have been woven together to create a supporting structure for the 42 beeches planted to eventually grow and form the columns. As planned, the surrounding support structure will deteriorate as the beeches grow, creating a seamless transition from the manmade to the natural. Standing at the foot of Mount Arera, the Tree Cathedral’s structure includes 1,800 fir poles, 600 chestnut branches, and 6,000 meters of hazel branches joined together with wood, nails, and string. The Cathedral takes up 650 square meters and took months to construct. It is more than 90 feet long, nearly 80 feet wide, and ranges in height from about 16 feet to nearly 70 feet.

The location

The exhibit is located in Trentino, precisely in Val di Sella. You can reach Val di Sella through Borgo Valsugana, a little village next to Trento.

This wooden cube is a masterpiece of Matilde Grau which is exhibited in Arte Sella, an artistic route that tells and represents the contomporary mountains. Arte Sella is located in Borgo Valsugana in northern Italy.

The first part of the trail, ArteNatura, is free and is located 10 km from the center of Borgo Valsugana. The masterpieces are located along a 2 km trail inside the woods on the south side of the Armentera mountain. Midway, you can find the Intersticios, a work by Matilde Grau (featured in the picture to the right) which marks the entrance of the biotope: an interesting Alpine pond where the artists of Arte Sella have left their footprint.

The main part of the exhibit is in the area of Malga Costa (an Alpine cottage), 13 km from Borgo Valsugana and it is accessible after an entry fee payment of €7 (this is the adult’s ticket price, but prices may vary based on age, disabilities, and discounts).


Arte Sella exhibits throughout. Arte Sella: the contemporay mountain. A unique creative process, that in a journey of thirty years has seen various meetings of an artistic nature, different inspirations and sensitivities accumulated from a desire to continue a dialogue between nature and the natural world. Arte Sella is located in Borgo Valsugana in northern Italy.

WHAT DO YOU THINK

Whether you prefer the crunch of winter snow under your boots or the warmth of the summer sun against your back, the trail of Arte Sella is perfect for all seasons! So, plan your itineraries and invite your friends, because you can’t miss out on this gorgeous landscape!

Who would you bring with you on this ancestral adventure among the sights of nature and the magic of art?


This artistic wooden composition is an artwork of Bob Verschueren exhibited in Arte Sella. Arte Sella is a route of art and sculptures in Borgo Valsugana, Italy.

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