The Italian South Tyrol is the northernmost province of Italy and, together with the province of Trentino, forms the autonomous region of Trentino-South Tyrol, Italian Trentino Alto Adige. It extends over a total of 7,400 km² from the Vinschgau Valley in the west via the capital Bolzano to the UNESCO-listed mountain landscapes of the Dolomites in the east of the region.
The German and Central European influences, Alpine tradition and trilingualism (German, Italian and Latin), with a dash of “Dolce Vita” and Italian spice in culture and cuisine, make the region incomparable!
The Dolomites in the east offer impressive contrasts: jagged limestone and rocky peaks in front of green alpine meadows, flat plateaus and breath-taking sunsets have not for nothing earned the unique mountain world of the Dolomites a listing as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. South Tyrol’s climate is also varied, ranging from marginal Mediterranean to subarctic.

For every season, the region offers wonderful opportunities for mountain sports such as hiking, canyoning and cycling, and snowshoeing and skiing on the Dolomiti Superski, which is the world’s largest ski slope network. A holiday in the rustic rooms of the mountain farms surrounded by untouched nature and fresh mountain air offers pure deceleration, just the way you look for it on holiday!
The world-famous mummy of “Ötzi,” who lived around 5,300 years ago, can be visited in Bolzano’s “South Tyrol Museum of Archaeology.” Those who are even more deeply interested in the life of the mountain people can learn more in one of the well-known “Messner Mountain Museums” (MMM), such as the “Firmian” in the Sigmundskorn ruin.
Other cultural highlights are the medieval fresco cycle of Runkelstein Castle, the Roman finds in the “Mansio Sebatum St. Lorenzen” near Bruneck and the unique nativity scenes from the Baroque to the present in the Brixner Hofburg.

The region is also unique musically, ranging from the Kastelruther Spatzen to the Haydn Orchestra. Of course, genuine folk music is not to be missed at any folk festival – on high holidays, the village brass band plays in front of the church. In modern music with traditional and innovative influences, the northern Italian region is constantly reinventing itself.
The cultural mix has also given South Tyrol a particularly inventive cuisine! The simple alpine cuisine of the mountain farmers (Gerstlsuppe, dumplings and strudel) and the specialties of the cities that Viennese cuisine (Tafelspitz and Sachertorte) influence combined with Italian gastronomic influences to create a distinctive South Tyrolean cuisine. The autumnal “Törggelen” is South Tyrol’s culinary season when wine, chestnuts and traditional peasant fare are feasted on every year after the grape harvest.

Likewise, the northern Italian region offers an extraordinary variety of wines – from the simple “Kalterer See” to international award-winning drops from the wineries of Bolzano, Terlan, Appiano and Caldaro.