South Tyrol

My first tour in this province dates back to '85, when during leave from military service a friend and I decided to come all the way here. It was the middle of winter and when we left the motorway at Ora we went to Cavalese in Trentino, where we stopped for a few hours (see Trentino). Back at Ora we took the motorway again, going north and then exiting to reach Brunico. It was evening and we went to see an ice hockey match valid for the Serie A championship. More than the match, the atmosphere was interesting; the event in fact took place on an open-air skating rink surrounded by crowded stands where, of course, the respective teams were cheered only in German, the language of this area.

After the match we looked for a place to stay but we were very young and the prices were too high for us, so late in the evening we took the road leading to Vetta d'Italia, stopping to sleep in a car park in the middle of winter in my car, a Seat Ibiza. We aroused the suspicion of a Carabinieri patrol that woke us, and that was our good fortune because we could also have frozen to death from the cold. We set off again at first light, this time heading south-east, where, bypassing Carbonin, one enters Veneto (for the Veneto part of the Tour see "Veneto"). Having returned to South Tyrol from Trentino (see Trentino) near Ora, we took the motorway again, definitively leaving the province. Fortunately we had found two splendid sunny days. On another occasion I came here for work together with two journalists.

Leaving the motorway at Bolzano we first went to Lana then to Merano, where in the surroundings we interviewed an Olympic weightlifting champion. Some years later I decided to make another tour in these parts to see the mountains without snow. I was with a friend and on the motorway we went as far as Vipiteno and slept nearby in Colle Isarco in a motel. The next day we visited Vipiteno, a typical Tyrolean town characterised by bell towers and houses with steep roofs, flowers on the windowsills, Gothic inscriptions on the walls, iron signs jutting from the walls of the houses, pastry shops from which the strong smells of the Tyrol waft out. On the main road we descend towards Bressanone, stopping at the Abbey of Novacella. At Bressanone, as at Vipiteno and likewise at Bolzano, the next stop of the tour, the atmosphere is very similar and of course the language spoken is mostly German.

After visiting Bolzano, where we admire the cathedral, we turn west to reach the graceful Merano, rich in greenery and flowers. Near the city a hill reachable by a walk uphill hosts a castle; we are at Castel Tirolo. From Merano we continue to Prato allo Stelvio, Ponte allo Stelvio and the isolated Solda surrounded by unspoilt alpine scenery. From here, rather than continuing to the Stelvio Pass, we take a "step" back and head north, skirting Lake Muta and Lake Resia and reaching Resia, where we spend the night in a classic guest house a stone's throw from the Austrian border. The next day we descend the valley again, stopping at once at Curon Venosta, where from the road it is possible to see the old bell tower emerging from the waters of Lake Resia. Further south a stop at the very white Abbey of Monte Maria, which dominates the Val Venosta from a hill.

A little further on, at Sluderno, we visit the medieval castle full of memories of the family that lived there. Back in Bolzano we took the road to the tiny but splendid Lake Carezza, a jewel set in a beautiful Dolomite environment; the spectacular mountains are reflected in very clear water whose colours vary in shade, from light blue to azure to blue. On that same road we reach Trentino (see Trentino) and, having travelled the Val di Fassa, we went back up the road, re-entering South Tyrol at the well-known resort of Selva di Val Gardena. We then definitively left the province, returning to Canazei (see Trentino). On the occasion of a journey to Austria and the Czech Republic I reached Austrian territory from the border of Prato alla Drava, near San Candido. Just before the frontier the Drava is the only Italian river whose waters flow into the Black Sea.

I have passed through this region also to reach Austria and then Germany by motorway, through the Brenner Pass. I was in this area on holiday with my family for four days at the end of September. After a short stop at Lake Carezza, I spent two nights in a fine hotel on the road between Ortisei and the Alpe di Siusi. The following morning with my car I reached Santa Cristina in Val Gardena, from where we took the cable car to see close up the splendid Odle peaks kissed by the sun and surrounded by a green plateau. Having descended to the valley we reached Selva di Val Gardena, from where by cable car we continued to a mountain refuge whose strategic position close to Sassolungo made it possible to observe also an entire side of the Marmolada. In the afternoon a stroll in the small old centre of Ortisei and then a short stop on the Alpe di Siusi, as far as it is possible to go by car.

Truly beautiful is Val Gardena with its well-kept meadows, the neat little houses with flowered balconies, the Gothic inscriptions on the shop façades. We then returned to the hotel for the night. The following day we entered Trentino (see Trentino) to go to the Pordoi Pass.