Bolzano/Bozen
Bolzano has prehistoric origins but the downright town dates back to the 12th century A.D. Its expansion and fortune are historically due to the medieval fairs and to the trade that profited by its good geographical position.
Since the very beginning German and Italian merchants cohabited in the city that slowly became the common ground for both cultures.
During the centuries the city was built in different styles: in Baroque, Rococo and later in Neo-Gothic and Neo-Romanesque style.
During the Fascism, according to the "Italianization" policy, Bolzano got some Italic features and a rationalist architecture hinged on the "Monumento della Vittoria", symbol of the attempt done to denationalize the German speaking population.
But in spite of all, even nowadays in this border city you can notice a cultural bipolarity: two languages, two cultures, two civilizations, two worlds (the Latin and the Germanic one) that coexist, attracting and rejecting each other at the same time.
Bolzano does not look like a very industrialized single city, separated from the agricultural areas and from the countryside. Indeed, it seems immersed in the surrounding nature not only with the Talvera Park , but even with the vineyards that cover one third of the whole municipal lands and reach the historic centre.
The Eastern area is even covered by palms, cypresses and olive-trees that in spring create a fascinating atmosphere, contrasting the snowy peaks on the background.
This town, capital of Trentino Alto Adige, is known as the coldest city in Italy: actually, in this beautiful valley the night temperatures are quite low, while in the daytime the climate becomes very mild as the basin is sunny, the atmosphere dry and there is no fog.
The "heart" of Bolzano is certainly Piazza Walther, the "elegant salon" in the historic centre, created at the beginning of the nineteenth century in place of the vineyards, between the medieval town and the parish church. This wide square with a regular plan, is dominated by Walther's statue,(Walther was a famous German poet who lived in the Middle Ages), and over the years it was embellished with several prestigious buildings.
The big Gothic cathedral consecrated to the Virgin Mary assumed into Heaven overlooks the south-west side of Piazza Walther.
The church was built in the 13th and 14th centuries in Romanesque style, and later was enlarged and altered in Gothic style. The bombardments of the World War II damaged the cathedral that was completely rebuilt as a faithful copy of the original.
Inside the visitors can admire some frescoes by the Paduan Giotto's school and by Federico Pacher.
Since 1295 Piazza delle Erbe has been the town marketplace; in the middle you see Neptune's fountain, an eighteenth-century masterpiece .
The Franciscans' Gothic church, situated in the neighbourhood, is decorated with Gothic frescoes and eighteenth-century paintings. It houses an engraved altar of great value, too.
The narrowvia dei Portici was the first town kernel and the ancient mercantile surbub of Bolzano. The buildings with porticoes were used as houses, shops and stores. They were altered in the 17th and 18th centuries, but still show their original medieval structure.
In Bolzano there are both fun and cultural opportunities and this has been also a strategic starting point for tourism, as the city is situated between the beautiful bishop's town Bressanone and the "wine town" Merano.
The well-known climber R. Messner tells: "In my opinion Bolzano is a mountain disguised like a town; at each corner you can get a different view. Try to move … when you come back, it has already changed! People speak two different languages. It is changeable like the mountains: fascinting and contradictory, haughty and communicative, kind and aloof ".
