Bolzano (Bozen) , Bolzano (bozen), Travel Guide

Situated on the junction of the rivers Talvera (Talfer) and Isarco (Eisack) near the southern limit of the province, BOLZANO (BOZEN) is Alto Adige's chief town. For centuries a valley market town and way station, Bolzano's fortunes in the Middle Ages vacillated as the Counts of Tyrol and the Bishops of Trento competed for power. The town passed to the Habsburgs in the fourteenth century, then at the turn of the nineteenth century Bavaria took control, opposed by Tyrolese patriot and military leader Andreas Hofer. His battle in 1809 to keep the Tyrol under Austrian rule was only temporarily successful, as in the same year the Austrian Emperor ceded the Tyrol to the Napoleonic kingdom of Italy. More changes followed, as Bolzano was handed back to Austria until after World War I, whereupon it passed, like the rest of the province, to Italy. Nowadays, in both winter and summer, the town is a busy tourist resort, and its pavement cafés and generally relaxed pace of life make it a good, if uneventful, place to rest up or use as a base for trips into the mountains. An unmissable pleasure is the local wine: Bolzano is at the head of the wine road , which runs south to the border with Trentino, and it's especially well known for its Chardonnay.