Historie a kultura Bolzana

This section of the "Keschtnweg" leads from the Bilderburg Runkelstein in the provincial capital of Bolzano through the sun-drenched vineyards, past the beautiful wine farms, along the slopes of the Guntschnaberge to the mighty chestnut trees in Glaning and on over the low mountain range above the Etsch Valley to Terlan and Vilpian.

Distance: 27.5 km
Metres in altitude ascent: 1,446 m
Metres in altitude descent: 1,511 m
Average walking time: 9.40 hours

Route:
The hike begins at the car park or bus stop below Runkelstein Castle. From there you walk over a bridge and turn left, past allotment gardens, until you reach the valley station of the Jenesien cable car (currently closed). Continue on hiking trail no. 2, which leads very steeply over the access road to the Rafenstein castle ruins, past the Sandner Hof farm and after about 80 m you turn into hiking trail no. 1 B. The trail leads into the farmyards of Jenesien (currently closed). The trail leads to the farm access road above the church of St. Jakob im Sand.
Hiking trail 1A leads moderately steeply above St. Georgen. Now follow the narrow farm access road to the right and after about 100 m the hiking trail (5A) branches off to the left in the direction of Fagenbach and you reach the Winterle farm. Now follow trail no. 5, cross the country road and climb up a steeper section to Glaninger Straße. Then continue to the junction with trail no. 9. In a few minutes you reach the little church of St. Martin in Glaning.
From Glaning, you now hike in a westerly direction, branch off to the right (no. 11), cross the Mauritiusbach stream and from there descend again onto the asphalted road. Above the Noafer inn, follow trail no. 9 to the Schmalzhof farm and then follow the trail in a left-hand direction. After another short climb, you reach the main road again and follow it uphill for a short distance until you reach the "Moar in Rumsein" farm. Then follow trail no. 9 and after about 200 m of descent, always following the asphalt farm access road, turn right and descend over a few hairpin bends to a bridge. You then reach the Lanzoner Hof farm. Follow the road to the left for about 500 m until you reach the Wegscheider farm. The path now leads first to the right to a fenced water reservoir, then briefly uphill to a path on the left (signposted Terlan). Follow the signpost no. 8 B in the direction of Verschneid. Then turn left onto trail no. 4 A in a westerly direction until you reach the road to Mölten.

Note: If you do not want to descend to Terlan, you can choose trail no. 4 A here in a westerly direction to "Ober-Tschirggl", which then continues to Vilpian.

Now you begin the descent to Terlan. Follow the Mölten road to the left and then trail no. 4 to the right. Past the Liebeneich estate of the Counts of Enzenberg, the trail continues to the left to the Köstenholz estate and you reach the centre of Terlan.
The last section of the "Keschtnweg" now leads from the centre of Terlan to Vilpian. From the Terlan parish church, follow Kirchgasse on the right and turn left into Silberleitenweg (no. 4A). You quickly overcome the difference in altitude and then look out for trail marker no. 1 A, which continues to the left in a westerly direction. You now walk along the road from Vorberg until you reach Scholer Hof. From Scholer Hof, follow trail no. 1 A for a short distance and turn left onto trail no. 1. This leads to a fork in the road, where you can take the steep descent to the left down to the provincial fire brigade school (only for experienced hikers) or take the easy trail no. 1 down to the cable car valley station in Vilpian. Both paths take you to the centre of Vilpian.

The story of the Benedictine Monastry of Muri Gries Dates back to the 13th Century, commissioned by the Counts of Morit-Greifenstein. It was first inhabitated by Augustinian Monks, then pillaged during farmer's war, destroyed during the Napolenic war and discontinuing during the Bavarian government. The curch ist dedicated to St. Augustin and houses important frescoes by Martin Knoller. Access permitted only to the inner gatter.

A paradise for excursions - do not miss walking on the Salto/Salten with its calming larch trees and the panoramic view on the Dolomites! 

The History of Commandery Longomoso - a rural branch of the Teutonic Order - is closely related to the hospice, which was built in the year 1200, when the road to cross the Alps led across the Renon. The hospice was used as accommodation for travelers, for changing horses, to care for the sick. The present form of the building as a mighty wall cube with a pyramid roof was built c.1650. The magnificent "Reiteröfen" (fireplaces) in the state rooms are witnesses of domestic potter art. Worth seeing are the stucco ceiling and wallpaper with biblical scenes and episodes from the history of the Teutonic Order. Today the Commandery is the beaming cultural center for the whole Renon. The Board of Trustees of the Commandery Longomoso operates a varied program of events.

In the museum you will find a large exhibition of historical working equipment and instruments used by our farmers. Furthermore it represents the traditional life and function of the Southtyrolean farmers. 

Exhibition theme: antique equipments, instruments used by farmers in South Tyrol 

Place: San Genesio

Free entry with donation

Info: tourist office San Genesio, Tel. +39 0471 354196 or directly by Mr. Erich Egger Tel. +39 331 624 1968

 

The romanic church of Saint Valentine was built between the 12th and 13th century. The development of the church is connected with the ruins of Castle Greifenstein. The tower was built around the 15th century. 

At the free fossil show below the  Tourist Office Meltina, which can be admired all year round, you can admire 260 million year old fossil tree remains. They originate from the Möltner Joch, where a large number of plant fossils from the more recent Permian period were found. The Fossil Museum offers an insight into the geology of the Tschögglberg on eleven display boards. In another eleven showcases various minerals, fossils and geological handpieces are shown. An exciting story of long extinct plants and animals, of deserts and seas, of catastrophic volcanic eruptions and earthquakes, of digging glaciers, plunging streams and leisurely flowing rivers.

In the tower next to the Steifler court were payed the taxes in form of natural materials. During the 17th century some of these taxes was changed in money. Today it's possible to visit this old tower from the outside. 

Piazza Gries, with the architectural complex of the Abbey of Benedettini di Muri-Gries on the right handside, is right in the middle of the quarter. The monastery, initially hosting Agostinian monks (1406), was damaged by peasant revolts in 1525 and destroyed during the Napoleonic wars. It was suppressed by the Bavarian government in 1807 and donated by the Austrian Emperor to Benedectine Muri Monks (Switzerland) in 1845. The oldest centre is the castle, built by the Morit-Greifenstein Counts in 1200, and whose original 'mastio' (tower) today is the church's bell tower. It hosts one of the heaviest bells in Alto Adige (5,026 kg).

Attractive building from 1634 incorporating an original part of the old City walls, maintained its official function until 1780. Right up in front of it a plaque which commemorates Saint Andrew's Church (demolished in 1785) and in front of it you can admire the picturesque Piazza del Grano Kornplatz (Wheat Square), embellished by nice shops and restaurants, one the main wheat market and of other land produce. In this respect we are talking about the firs main urban centre of Bolzano/Bozen together with the castle of the Prince-Bishops of Trento, founders of the City: the Castle was probably destroyed by Mainhard II during one of his incursions to obtain control over the important commercial town (1277).

The bridge of Vadena/Pfatten was built in 1999 to replace the old, single-lane bridge from 1928. The modern, progressive structure is reminiscent in its form of the old bridge, which was restored and rebuilt a little further north as a bicycle bridge on the Adige/Etsch cycle route. The bridge of Vadena/Pfatten crosses the Adige river and connects the villages of Bronzolo/Branzoll and Vadena/Pfatten. Today it is also a symbol of the countless river crossings that have marked the history of the two villages for centuries.

This about 3 km long round trail is a child-friendly, creative and near-naturally designed contemplation trail!

The visitors, especially children, receive in this wonderfull calming landscape the opportunity, to experience the nature and his creator understanding the God's message to us with all senses…

The famous St. Martin is the patron of Glaning. The design of the round trail is based on his life and model.

With the helpful elements like footprints, stone bench, labyrinth, „Our-Father“ rock or splendid viewpoints, can both children and adults comprehend the life of the Saint Martin learning also more about themselves…

Bolzano Christmas Market ─ The magic atmosphere of the festive decorations on the white tree, the nativity, the advent crown, the scented cakes and confectionery made week after week by the expert hands of those who keep their secret recipes and tricks. This awaited event is aimed at rediscovering the traditions that, in Alto Adige, are hidden behind the four weeks of the Advent, in anticipation of the most beautiful festival of the year that evolves through rituals and traditions lost in the dark ages.

Loffererhof Farm and its greenhouses, located behind the old Gries church, were demolished shortly after 1900, and the elementary school and kindergarten were built in 1908. The school was renovated in 1998. A gymnasium was added to this building group in 2002, an independent fourth building that encloses the intermediate schoolyard space. The transparent construction, a steel-and-glass structure, is reminiscent of the Orangerie that was formerly located here. The ball-proof suspended construction of the glass façade makes the building appear transparent and affords views of the old chestnut tree. The cafeteria, a final addition, was completed in 2008, inserted into the narrow space between the street and the old school building underground with a skylight in such a way that the historical building still appears detached.

Under Mussolini in the 1930s, Italian factory workers were settled in a garden city called the Semirurali. These very simple houses with gardens for self-sufficiency were demolished in the postwar period, and replaced by modern residential buildings. The new complex tried not to distribute and make freely accessible the individual residential buildings around the property but rather to plan squares and streets in accordance with the existing “rules of urban design.” In the spaces between, contiguous rows of buildings were built. They border the streets and squares, as was common in the cities before the relaxed construction of modern times gave up these norms. In spite of the row construction, the buildings stand out as individual homes because of the arrangement of loggias and glass coverings as the color scheme, and thereby convey a feeling of identity.

 

The Dominican order established itself in Bolzano/Bozen in 1272 and built a church with a single nave inside a vast convent which branches off into different chapels, some of which have been lying in ruins, and a beautiful cloister. A part of the ancient structure houses the Music Academy shich, indidentally, Hosts the prestigious international piano competition Ferruccio Busoni. Also present is the Stadtgalerie, an art gallery which holds different exhibitions and other important cultural Events. The church has gothic archways, as well as baroque elements from the 17th and 18th century (such as the altar piece of Guercino to the left of the Major altar, which was bought by the merchants of Bolzano). The church preserves prestigious examples of paintings from Bolzano from the 14th century which can be found on the oriental side of the coister and on the western wall of the Church, but the real artistic jewel of the building is the Chapel of St. John, the Long and narrow side chapel which holds the cycle of frescoes of those painters who took Giotto es their role model, the so called "School of Giotto". Of particular interest are those scenes from the life of St. Nicholas on the last part of the oriental qall, and the fresco of the "Triumph over death " in the firs part of the same wall, the flight from Egypt on the western wall and the torture of St. Bartholomew on the northern wall. The entire chapel, decorated with individual frescoes of various themes, is a splendid example of 14th century art as practised in the Region. In the nearby coister you can also admire some frescoes by Friedrich Pacher which go back as far as 496.

The tower in the Vadena district of Birti is the last remnant of the curacy church of St. Mary Magdalene from the 14th century. It is 24.6 m high and the walls are 70 to 90 cm thick. You can see the bricked-up arched windows on each side, only one is still open and intact. At that time, three bells hung in the tower, two smaller and one large. The brick helmet is damaged at its top, as the wind had thrown the button off the tower in 1743/44. Due to its very unfavourable location on the open valley floor, the Madgalena Church was hit by countless Adige floods. The church was flooded in 1755. The citizens of Vadena therefore thought about moving the church to the castle chapel in the courtyard of Vadena. In 1794, the church had to be abandoned after further numerous floods, because the water exceeded the altar refectory and the death chests floated around like ships. On 2 July 1795, a contract was concluded between the castle chapel owner Menz and the neighbours in Vadena and the castle chapel was designated as the new curacy church. In 1796, the Church of Mary Magdalene was demolished, only the tower still reminds us of the location of the old church. 

The children´s playground is open the whole year and you can find it after our swimming pool and opposite the Hotel Belvedere.

In the via Cassa di Risparmio/Sparkassenstrasse are collocated the Civic Museum and the Archeological Museum with the iceman.

The Santo Sepolcro Church also known as the Church of Calvary, can be reached in about 20 minutes following the forest path that starts from via Santa Geltrude or from the road that goes up from via Piè di Virgolo. A handful of minutes, following the via crucis, and here we are, immersed in the forest. From here you can enjoy a wonderful panoramic view over Bolzano and the Sciliar plateau.

The church, built between 1683 and 1684, has been for centuries a place of pilgrimage. On the right, looking at the entrance of the church, there is a chapel that contains the fountain with Christ. In past times couples used to do small fertility rites to become a child. The elders of Virgolo still remember a popular belief who said that children came into the world under the fountain of the chapel and weren't brought by the stork.

The church has been restored in recent times, but the countless love-graffiti are safe. Pilgrims and lovers engraved the walls of the sepulchre with love messages from the 18th century up to our days and it is a real emotion to read those messages that overlap over the centuries and tell the story of hundreds of people through a heart, a flower, a name, a date or a promise of love.

The Franciscan order settles in town in 1221; the present building Dates back to the rist haf of the 14th century, but the original ceiling, flat and with a choir of polygonal shape, has been replaces by a vaulted ceiling from the 15th century. The coister is a beautiful example of gothic art, which replaces the Romanesque style in which the rest of the building was built; there are different frescoes from various periods of time, including some from Giotto's School and some from the 17th and 18th century. The church still preserves an astounding wooden altar by Hans Klocker of Brixen (painted Wood - 1500) which was dedicated to the Nativity Scene. The choir of the church is embellished by the modern glass panels of Widmoser.

Located at the southern-western outskirts of Bolzano/Bozen, this castle is considered one of the emblems of South Tyrol. The original name "Formigar" stems from the Latin word "formicaria". From the 10th century a.d. the castle belonged to the Prince-Bishop of Trento, while during the second half of the 15th century Duke Sigismond , Count of Tirol, bought it and transformed it into the biggest and most prestigious of his castles naming it Sigmundskron (Sigismonds' crown). At the present date it has become the Mountain Museum of Reinhold Messner MMM Firmian.

The Province Technical College for the Health Professions was built in close proximity to Bolzano Hospital. The two-story reinforced concrete structure, surrounded by a glass facade, towers on an L-shaped plan. With steel supports for the balconies in front of the facade and the broad, cantilevered canopy construction, which goes around the whole building. The structure is light, almost floating, an interesting contrast to the monumental staircases built in front. The interior design, with floors made of pale natural stone, partition walls made from maple, glass and aluminum as well as its warm colors, lend Claudiana Province Technical College a pleasant atmosphere. There is a broad, square tiled plaza in front of the building, which conveys a very spacious feel.

 

The Mary's Ascension into Heaven Parish Church is located in Sarnthein / Sarentino Village. The church was first mentioned in documents dating back to 1309. The church tower is the oldest part, having been built in the 14th century. Other parts of the church were added or expanded over the years.

A little further north of piazza Gries stands the old parish church of Gries located in the middle of an antique cemetery. It is a late Gothic building, dating back to the early 1400, and hosts two stunning treasures: the altar of Michael Pacher (1471-75) and the Romanesque wooden crucifix of 1200. The first one is undoubtedly a masterpiece of Gothic art of the wooden altars with casket and hatch remaining today, while the second one, which probably in relation to north French sculpture is believed to be of foreign origin, is considered of great relevance.

The church stands in an area which was inhabited ever since Roman times. It was called "Keller", or "Chellare" (cellar), and later named "Gries", or sand. Until 1908 the wine farm of Bishop of Frisinga in Baviera stood next to the church.

Maids and servants The first historical mention of the Rohrerhof dates back to around 1280 and was earlier regarded as one of the valley’s largest farm estates. Admission ticket: volontary contirbution categories: farmer, craft, culture, Etnography

It is the Cathedral of the Bolzano Bozen- Bressanone Brixen Diocese. It conceals the remains of an early Christian, Medieval and Romanesque (1180) basilica. A hundred years later works are commenced to build a new imposing building which is completed around 1420 by combining the expertise of workers of Lombardy with the gothic style brought by the Swabian expertise over the decades. The bell tower stand over the square, 65 metres tall, with a spire in openwork in sandstone by the Swabian architect Hans Lutz von Schussenried, who completed it between 1501 and 1519. To see: the cross built in Veronese style, the "Wine door", the Romanesque Portal with porch lions, the rose window, the fresco "Virgin with child" credited to Friedrich Pacher, inside the gothic pulpit, the baroque Chapel of the Three Maries.

The parish church of St. Magdalena used to be a small chapel that was integrated into a castle. The chapel was built in 1304 and dedicated to St. Mary Loreto. In 1797 the chapel had some modifications, such as the construction of a tower and the extension of the chapel to a church. In 1804 the patronage of the church was transferred to St. Magdalena.

Based on the urban concept of Dutch architect Frits van Dongen, this group of buildings nettled between orchards and vineyards was developed with farmsteads and castles in mind. In keeping with the “Living in the Park” concept, the three separate buildings comprising the polygonal residential block are centered around a spacious courtyard. Large free-form entrances connect it to the underground garage and form the well-lit main entrance to the complex. Sophisticated architectural design was created in order to conform to the restrictive guidelines for the sponsored residential complex. Four layout designs and three different window shapes were employed in creating flats for 92 families, all designed slightly differently. The exteriors are of a rough, beige concrete while the smooth, white-varnished facades of the courtyard optimize the open space of the private courtyard.

Palais Campofranco was built in the second half of the 18th century. During the following century, it was the residence of the Archduke Ranieri Joseph of Austria and his wife, Princess Elisabeth of Savoy. The emblem of the Palace is its monumental ginko biloba tree, a gift for Empress Elisabeth of Austria, more commonly known as Princess Sissi, from her uncle Heinrich.

A change that preserves both the environment and the past of the building. This is the vision that nurtured the Palais Campofranco’s rebirth, built up from its historical foundations into a tribute to the territory through the creative use of smart technologies and natural energy sources.

The inner court of the Palais, with its impressive ginkgo tree as a centrepiece, is open all year round to give the palace a central role in Bolzano’s city life.