Moline, together with nearby Deggia, is one of two hamlets detached from the seven villages of San Lorenzo in Banale, separated by the gentle slopes of Dòs Beo and Dòs Mani.
Nestled next to the Bondai stream, Moline has always lived in symbiosis with water. Under the cobbled bridge that crosses it, the Acqua dei Paròi joins the Acqua Mora, which descends from Lake Nembia, giving rise to the Bondai.
In the past, this rushing water powered the mills from which the hamlet takes its name, feeding sawmills, forges and spinning mills. In the 19th century, Moline was the artisan heart of San Lorenzo: wood and iron were worked, and wool and hemp were spun. There was also a small factory producing broches, the hand-forged square nails used for boots. And then there was the tavern with accommodation, the post office and a school with forty children.
Moline was a crossroads of ancient trade routes connecting the Giudicarie to the Val di Non and Trento. Then, in 1921, with the opening of the Crozèa road, the new state road between San Lorenzo and Molveno, which runs high above the hamlet, carved into the rock at the foot of the Brenta Dolomites, traffic and life moved elsewhere. Since then, Moline has slowly begun to empty.
Today, among the ruins of mills and forges, a discreet and authentic charm remains. The faded sign of a tavern still watches over the stone bridge where Emperor Franz Joseph once walked. Now, travellers on the San Vili and Frassati trails stop here to listen to the murmur of the stream and breathe in the atmosphere.
A little further on, there is a house covered in climbing plants that turn red and orange in autumn: they call it the foliage house, a symbol of a hamlet that, although quiet, continues to live on in the colours, memories and gazes of those who still live there and those who visit it.
Some say that Moline is reminiscent of Provence: the same golden light, the same scent of herbs, the same peace that invites you to stop and listen. Moline is a hamlet of peace and serenity, a refuge for the soul where the water whispers, the mountains breathe and time, for a moment, forgets to pass.
