Abbazia di Novacella

The outer wall is a medieval fortification and the bell tower above it Romanesque, so nothing at the gate prepares for the Baroque of the collegiate church inside. Then the Rococo library. The Marble Chapel is the room that lingers — one visitor came in fresh from the Sistine Chapel and Versailles and still called this mountain abbey the surprise. The courtyard holds the Well of Wonders, and past it the vineyards begin: the abbey has kept a working estate through more than 850 years of its history, and the wine poured in the shop comes off those slopes, the northernmost estate wines in the region.

• Two ways round. At the ticket centre, join a guided tour or scan the QR code and walk it yourself — the self-guided route has a children's audio version.
• No ticket, no interior. Part of the church shows through the inner gates; the Marble Chapel and the library need the ticket.
• The tasting runs on a card. Load it with whatever you want to spend, then pour your own in the gift shop: 50 cents a taste.
• Toilets are on site and free, and information boards stand by the entrance before you go in.

The road ends at the abbey wall. The public car park lies about 60 metres from the entrance, so the walk in is finished before it starts, and the lot marked P1 beside it belongs to the abbey and is private — worth knowing before pulling in. Arriving by bus changes nothing about the last stretch: the stop is barely a hundred metres from the gate, on level ground. From there everything begins at the ticket centre.

Best: a dry weekday, when the courtyards, the vineyard slopes and the ground between the buildings all count as part of the visit.

Avoid: Sundays — the gates stay shut, and the drive out gets you the outer wall and nothing else.

Weather decides how much of the abbey is actually seen. Rain deletes the courtyards and the vineyard views: one couple turned up wet, skipped the buildings and did the tasting anyway.