A stay in South Tyrol must not be at all costs a hiking vacation in the mountains. Bolzano is also the perfect place for tourists wishing to visit a typical town in the Alps with all its sights. For example what about shopping in the picturesque Old Town with its splendid Arcades, or a pleasant walk on the Talvera Promenades or a visit to the numerous cultural and historical sights in and around Bolzano?
South Tyrol’s capital owns its rich cultural and historical heritage above all to its geographic location at the crossways of two important historical transalpine routes. Many places of interest attest to the rich pass of the town as an important commercial centre during the centuries. The richness of the region in castles, monasteries and churches as well as the growing range of the cultural offers attract year after year more and more tourists from everywhere.
Without any doubt the most popular tourist attraction of Bolzano is the “Iceman Ötzi”. With about 300.000 visitors per year the 5.400-year-old mummy now exhibited at the South Tyrol Museum of Archaeology is for sure the most important “tourist magnet” of the town. The Copper Age hunter found by accident in 1991 mummified and frozen among the glaciers with his clothes and equipment represents an archaeological sensation and a unique snapshot of a Copper Age man.
Besides the Archaeological Museum people interested in nature studies find something interesting at the Museum of Nature South Tyrol. The Civic Museum invites you to a trip in the history of Bolzano, the Mercantile Museum shows the main business activities of ancient times and the in 2008 reopened Museion hosts different exhibitions of modern and contemporary art.
The Messner Mountain Museum at Castle Firmiano was inaugurated in 2006 and focuses on the relation between men and the mountain. The exhibition consists of paintings and objects as well as pieces from Reinhold Messner’s private collection and its aim is to incite the visitor to find a new way of conceiving the theme “mountain”.
Besides the large number of museums, the many castles and fortresses in the region of Bolzano attract the attention of visitors of all ages. The Roncolo Castle is also known as “the illustrated castle” as on its indoor walls visitors can still admire one of the biggest preserved cycles of profane frescos of the Middle Ages. Further places for your excursions can be the Mareccio Castle, the Flavon Castle or the Sarentino Castle (Rafenstein) on the sunny hills over Bolzano.
During the last years the development of Bolzano – Bozen as a modern university town has become more and more perceivable thanks to the growing cultural offer spacing for example from music, films, theatre and dances.
Furthermore in the year 2008 Bolzano – Bozen is the setting of the European biennial festival Manifesta 7, one of the most important events dedicated to contemporary and experimental arts.
