The beautiful province in northern Italy with its capital Bolzano is entirely in the Alps and is the northernmost province in Italy. With about 530,000 inhabitants and an area of about 7,400 km², it is one of the largest provinces in Italy. The important Brenner transit route runs through it in a north-south direction. To the north and east, South Tyrol borders the Austrian provinces of Tyrol and, to a small extent, Salzburg. To the west, the Swiss canton of Graubünden joins it.

In the southwest, the Italian region of Lombardy (province of Sondrio) surrounds South Tyrol; in the south, Trentino surround