Bolzano and the Dolomites

Earlier this week we drove up to the Dolomites, a mountain range located along Italy’s northeastern border. This is also the SudTirol or Southern Tirol region and an autonomous province within Italy. I can best describe it as looking a lot like the German part of Switzerland with a thin veneer of Italian. It is a dual (and sometimes tri) lingual area—German and Italian (and Ladino in some parts) which makes for confusing road signs.

Driving along the A1 from Florence to Bologna

Prior to World War I, the area was part of Austria. There were battlefields/trenches throughout the mountains but few real battles. Cold and avalanches killed more soldiers than bullets did. After the region was ceded to Italy, Mussolini gave every town an Italian name and generally trying to Italianize all things. However, it remains stubbornly Germanic and most people are bilingual, speaking German at home.

The result is a wonderful place to visit. On Tuesday we left Capannori about 8:30 and arrived in Bolzano in time for lunch. The architecture changed rather abruptly as we entered the SudTirol—lots of chalets, window boxes full of flowers, and different ornate church steeples. Most of the church roofs are multi colored tile. The buildings in Bolzano have ornate balconies. There is an arcaded old main street. The small towns in the mountains are just like Leavenworth WA has always dreamed of looking.

We parked in Central Bolzano and had lunch before meandering through the cathedral and visiting the local archeological museum. The latter was fascinating as that is where the Iceman, Otzi, a wet mummy discovered in the nearby Alps in 1991, resides. The mummy is there plus the clothes, weapons, and supplies that were found with him.  It is all explained most engagingly with lots of details of the forensic science used to discover all sorts of details such as his ethnicity, the garments he was wearing, and what killed him.

The Cathedral in Bolzano

Not One's Usual Italian Architecture

Looks More like Austria than Italy

We found a hotel just outside of town and spent two nights at Madelener Hof, a lovely hotel with a pool, view of the mountains, and a great restaurant. We spent the early afternoon by the pool. I went in and it was brisk but lovely. There was no one else around while we were there and it was so nice to laze in the water followed by lazing in the sun with our books.

Madelener Hof from the pool

Bolzano in the morning sun from our hotel balcony--we were tucked in the attic

On Wednesday we drove to Siusi and took the cable car to Alpe di Siusi, the largest high alpine meadow in Europe. It was very Sound of Music complete with flower covered fields, flower covered chalets, and cows with bells. We barely explored the edge of the meadow but what we saw was GORGEOUS. We walked down the hill from the cable car station, rode one of the chairlifts up the hill and walked back down. The skiing didn’t look particularly challenging but I still wished we were there in the winter. 

Trying to take a picture of the ride up in the cable car

Hard to see but white cows laying in the meadow.

The chairlift ride up--easy peasy hill!

The sign next to this sleigh contraption showed photos of when it was used as a ski lift! It was basically hooked to a rope tow and hauled up the hill. It could hold 17 people and their skis.

Val Gardena is on the other side of this hill

We rode the cable car back down to our car and then drove to Val Gardena, a famous winter sports area. The valley actually has three towns. It’s small so we drove all the way to Selva, about 15 minutes, and found a restaurant for lunch. I was eager to try some of the local specialties so I had dumplings—one spinach, one mushroom, and one cheese—swimming in butter and parmesan. They were delicious!

The plan was to go back to the hotel and hang out by the pool for the rest of the afternoon but our room was so deliciously cool (AC!) that we just read and napped. I did go out and read by the pool from about 5:30-7 pm. We had another great dinner in the restaurant. I ordered a mint risotto with raw tuna. It was such a strange combination that I had to try it. I always think of mint as something sweet but it was a delicious savory and the tuna was simply two undressed sashimi grade slices placed on top.

The view from the restaurant at breakfast

On Thursday we had another fabulous breakfast at the hotel before we started our drive back home. We detoured to drive along the east side of Lago di Garda. We have previously visited Lago Maggiore and Lago di Como. Garda, especially at the north end, is less ritzy. There are lots of campgrounds and water sports and hiking seem to be the main activities. No beautiful people and not discos in sight. There also seemed to be a lot of public beach area which is not the norm in Italy.

Lovely Lago di Garda

We arrived home late afternoon and found it still hot, hot, hot. Today is overcast and it just rained a little which cooled it off from the high 80s to mid 70s—much more pleasant. The next few days are supposed to be cooler which is good because I have some messy, sweaty house projects to complete.

A piu tardi!