South Tyrol
Last weekend Sonja and I had the pleasure to spend some days in beautiful South Tyrol, a place surely worth being discussed a bit here. Politically belonging to Italy but culturally to Germany, the region is situated south of the Brenner Pass stretching over some of the southern alp valleys. South Tyrol is blessed with short winters – in the valleys, of course -, very warm but not hot summers, and up to 280 sunny days a year.
The most impressing thing one immediately notices when visiting Southern Tyrol: it is so pretty, it almost hurts. The mountains are of bizarre shape and snow-topped, the meadows are of a saturated green and full of scenting flowers, spread over the valleys there are the cutest villages and nicest towns one can imagine; the latter stuffed with cultural and architectonical marvels. In fact, it’s so nice there that some people there are so fed up with constantly being told so, they just move away. It is not always easy to live in a kind of paradise.
One of the few other reasons for leaving the region is the enclave-effect. The region was so shut up from the mainland and so concentrated on not becoming overrun by Italian culture and thus so focused on keeping the German heritage, it almost feels like pre-war Germany in a lot of respects (mostly the positive ones, I don’t want to be misunderstood here).
This is not only true for architecture and dress code, but also with respect to the attitude of the people. They have all the characteristics that are typically associated with the Germans to the fullest and purest extend. Just one example: the towns are not only nice, they are also unbelievably clean and the citizens are constantly working to keep it that way. There is not even dust on the road, not to speak of any kind of dirt. If there is a tree leave on the sidewalk, you can be sure, somebody has put it there in order to make the scene less sterile. Even the ruins – usually of castles and such things - look as if they were built just yesterday only to add a nice flavour.
However, of course there is some Italian influence. Therefore, even though everybody speaks German, you still can get a really descend cappuccino and gorgeous pasta. If you ask me: a great melange of cultures.
Of course, one main reason for spending some days in the area is to stroll around in the beautiful landscape and climb the mountains. There are only very few regions in this world where, doing this, one can experience more or less all climate and vegetative zones Europe has to offer in just walking distance. It is possible to have everything from eternal ice on the glacier to blooming apricot trees and Mediterranean style palms within just four hours; of course, with a difference in elevation of more than 2.000 meters.
The good thing about doing the walking especially in Southern Tyrol is that, unlike as for example in the Bavarian alps, you do not need to pack a lot of food and drink stuff. It is a nice custom that the farmers who, well, do the farming around the mountains maintain cute little cottages every half an hour or so aside the walking paths where the hungry and thirsty tourist will be served elder flower schorle (a spritzed drink), yummy raspberry juice and kaiserschmarrn.