Local popular tradition has it that the village of Massimeno was originally built on the plateau above the church of San Giovanni. The locality where the church stands is called “Castel”, a place name possibly derived from the ancient Castello Massimo, hence the name Massimeno.
It is the smallest municipality in Trentino and is also one of the most sparsely populated municipalities in the entire Alpine area, due also to the emigration of the first post-war period. The village, uniquely in Val Rendena, is situated on a side terrace of the Sarca river furrow, on the western slopes of Monte della Costa di Nambì (1803 m) and is dominated by a large square looking onto the valley and the Adamello-Presanella massif.
The municipal territory itself is quite large, extending from the valley slopes towards the Sarca river and on to Monte Làres at 3354 metres. Situated at the edge of the terrace is the 1758 Church of Our Lady of Loreto (rebuilt in 1862).
An old mule track winds its way from Massimeno up to the barns at Plan and the Malga Movlina, at an altitude of 1746 metres. The path begins at the fountain in the square and ascends a wooded ridge through a series of hairpin bends. After a small peak, it reaches the Plan barns at an altitude of 1588 metres; continuing along the forest road, the traveller arrives at the Malga Movlina ridge, a balcony of wide pastures with a clear view of the Adamello and the Vallón massif, in the Brenta Dolomites.
