Category: Experience South Tyrol

How to reach the Gampen Bunker

At only 1,520 m, the Gampenpass mountain pass (Passo Palade in Italian) is one of the lowest mountain passes in the Alps and was the main north-south route once used by wayfarers and pilgrims, before the roads were built. The Alta Val di Non/Deutschnonsberg area always represented the boundary between cultures and served as a frontier: a place of both meeting and separation.

Built between 1935 and 1939, the road across the Gamepnpass mountain pass connecting the villages of Lana in South Tyrol and Fondo in Trentino represented an engineering feat at the time.

One of the most important WWII-era bunker systems in South Tyrol was built on the Gampenpass on the border between South Tyrol and Trentino. Today the bunker in the Gampen Gallery hosts exhibitions including a permanent collection of minerals and a photo exhibition.

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Please check this website for detailed information on opening hours and prices.

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Contact:
Gampen Bunker
Gampen Pass
3910 Senale
+39 0463 886321

How to reach the Häusl am Stoan

Imagine waking up one morning, looking out at the window and realizing with horror that there is nothing left around your house – everything washed away by the flood. A truly unpleasant feeling that the owners of the “Häusl am Stein” also experienced in 1882.

A long time ago, lush, beautiful meadows and several farmhouses stood here in the valley floor below Bad Lad in St. Pankraz an der Falschauer. But when in one autumn night of 1882 a great storm came down, the floods of the mountain stream swept everything away, except for the so-called “Häusl am Stein”, on the right bank of the Falschauer. By chance, this had been built on a huge boulder and was thus spared the enormous flood. However, the rock on which the cottage stands only became visible after the flood. Not even the owners of the little house knew about it.
Even today the “Häusl am Stein”, one of the most curious buildings of the holiday region Ultental-Deutschnonsberg and all of South Tyrol, stands on the rock and defies any weather. A little hidden between trees and meadows, it can be reached from St. Pankraz via a leisurely walk and can be admired. The Falschauer is still today a wild mountain stream, but a well-built one, from which no dangers go out anymore and on whose shore it is pleasant to picnic.
The “Häusl am Stein” is a very popular photo motif. It is privately owned and still inhabited today.

Opening Times:
Open all year round

How to reach Castel Katzenzungen

Castel Katzenzungen was first mentioned in 1244 when it was owned by Henricus de Cazenzunge. Between the 16th and the 18th Century, the castle had its golden age when it was owned by the Lords von Breisach, who originally came from Alsace. Then, it was one of the most elegant aristocratic residences in the country. With the extinction of this dynasty, the Renaissance sastle was transformed into farming area and was only renovated after the Pobitzer family from Meran bought the grounds in 1978. For some years, Castel Katzenzungen with its magnificent rooms, panelled Renaissance lounges, the black smoking kitchen and the arched ceiling cellars has been used once again for its original purpose, which is that of a „summer residence“. The programme features in particular cultural and gastronomic events.

Contact:
Castel Katzenzungen
Prissiano 11
39010 Tesimo/Prissiano
+39 0473-927018

How to reach the earth pyramids

Giants of clay
Perjury and greed, according to legend, are supposed to be the reasons why earth pyramids reach toward the sky in Collepietra instead of lush, green and fertile meadows.

Children of erosion
Heavy storms, the “punishment of God”, are in fact the cause of these unique and extremely rare natural landmarks. Where glaciers deposited moraine clay during the ice age, heavy rainfall formed a clay paste that slowly flowed down into the valley. Harder material, such as larger rocks, protected the underlying clay from the rain: over the millennia pillars of up to 30 metres in height were formed, each complete with its own “hat”.