The Alto Adige contains some of the most spectacular scenery in Italy as well as some of the best mountain-walking in Europe.
Italy - South Tyrol - Bolzano
This area of the eastern Italian Alps is the Bolzano province, known officially in Italy as Alto Adige, but to most people as the South Tyrol. People of Austrian and Italian origin have lived side by side since Austria ceded the region to Italy at the end of World War I. The person responsible for this territorial manoeuvre was President Woodrow Wilson who, in 1919, after the First World War, conceded to Italian demands for a defensible frontier and the typically Austrian Tyroleans were placed under Italian control.
Germany succeeded in putting a stop to Mussolini's brutal attempts to Italanise the South Tyrol during the 1920's, but not before he had managed to give every German name in the region an Italian equivalent, and today all street signs are in both languages and there's an Italian name and a German name for every town. This can be confusing if you have a map that gives the names in only one
language.
Italy - South Tyrol - Seiseralm
To the east of Bolzano, the capital town of the region, is Europe's largest area of mountain pastureland - the Seiseralm. It's a magical place high above the valleys, surrounded by the dramatic Dolomites, where acres of brilliant wild flowers bloom throughout the summer. Named after the limestone studied by the 18th-century French geologist Déodat Gratet de Dolomieu, these jagged mountains are so steep that no glaciers ever formed, but their rather forbidding appearaance is transformed at sunset, particularly in the area around Bolzano, where the spiky peaks are called the Rosengarten, or Rose Garden.
The story goes that they were once covered with roses, but the dwarf king Laurin, rejected by his bride, cast a spell on them and turned the mountain rose garden into stone "by day and by night" so that mortals could no longer gaze upon it. Fortunately he forgot about dusk and dawn and when you watch the peaks turning a soft rosy pink you can see why he wanted to keep them to himself.
The vast network of trails on the Seiseralm makes it almost impossible to get lost. This is mountain walking for softies - at 2,000 metres with no hills to climb or rocks to scale, just gently undulating grassland where you wade through a sea of colour. Occasionally you come across small wooden houses nestling in the Alpine meadows, looking as though they grew there. Some have huge rocks piled onto the roofs as protection against winter gales.
Italy - South Tyrol - Adventurous Walking
If you want to get in some more adventurous walking there are a few jagged peaks to challenge you, like the Santner Spitze (where the witches live) or Plattkofel (2,955m). Both have shelters within an hour's walk of the summit. If you plan to do a lot of walking there are good hotels right on the Seiseralm which would make an ideal base from which to explore the plateau, or you could stay in one of the many charming mountain villages with their onion-domed churches and ancient castles.
Italy - South Tyrol - Castles
Castles are a big feature of the area and walking from castle to castle is a popular activity. There are over 350 of them brooding on hilltops, nestling in vineyards or clinging to rock faces. Most were built in the 12th and 13th centuries and many are still lived in. Some are run as hotels and restaurants.
Walking on mountain pastures and staying in ancient castles is perhaps the Tyrolean nature of the region. The Italian spirit shines in the lovely old spa resort of Merano on the River Passirio where people have been coming to 'take the waters' for over 150 years. With its sub-tropical flowers and shrubs, colourful fruit and vegetable markets stacked with yards of garlic and gloriously elegant civic buildings ornamented with classic statuary, it is very Italian. The promenade along by the river has an old-fashioned air, string quartets play to audiences who seem to have all day to just sit and listen. The pace of life is easy and slow.
