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Trentino
Alto-Adige
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Places
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When most people
think of Italy they think of ancient roman antiquity,
renaissance living or even lush beaches. What most
people don’t realize is that Italy’s border regions,
especially its northern most region, are filled with
majestic alpine mountains, thick forests, glaciers,
rivers, lakes, wild life and a clash of cultures.
Encompassed by the Alps a big attraction for this
region is its variety of recreational sports, especially
skiing because six months of the year it is covered
in snow.
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Trentino-Alto Adige is an Italian
region with two cultures. As you might guess from
its name, this region was at one time two smaller
regions. It’s composed of the Italian speaking Trentino
and the heavily German populated Alto Adige or Sudirol.
Today if you venture into this region you may hear
more German than you do Italian, all of the signs
are in both languages and even the cuisine is more
bratwurst than it is sausage. It makes for a very
interesting experience.
The numerous mountain ranges and
valleys that lie in between create a large discrepancy
in climates (cool summers and snowy winters). This
region has villages with more characteristics of a
German mountain village than an Italian one.
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Typical alpine
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Often called Italy’s gateway to Europe,
Trentino-Alto Adige borders Austria and Switzerland,
and is a quick ride through Austria to Germany (in
fact it seems as though it has been for thousands
of years). In 1991 the body of a 5,000 year old traveler
was discovered in a melting glacier. They found the
man with leather boots and a copper ice pick. Theses
same paths were later utilized and more frequently
traveled when the Romans used them to access the rest
of Europe during the world conquest. Many of the cities
and towns were founded by Romans using them as rest
stops along their way from Rome to Europe. Then later
the Counts of Tyrol, Germanic rulers from the borders
of Austria, built a series of castles, and colonized
much of the area, infiltrating the Roman influence
with the still prevalent Germanic one. The Tyrolean
style buildings and mountain houses, with their wood
balconies and timber roofs over hanging to protect
them from snow give Trentino-Alto Adige a unique look
and feel found nowhere else in Italy.
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