La torre delle polveri | Merano

How to reach the Torre delle polveri 
The best view of Merano! An old keep in which a modern staircase was installed to use it as a viewing platform. A location directly above the parish church on a majestic rock. A view over the whole Burggrafenamt, from the valleys to the highest peaks of Merano.
The Torre delle plover (“Powder Tower”) is rightly considered one of Merano’s most popular sights! The Powder Tower Merano owes its name to the fact that the Meran city fathers, worried about the large amount of gunpowder stored in Meran during the 30-year war, had it stored in the keep of Ortenstein Castle. The castle was demolished, but fortunately the powder tower was not!
Today the tower is accessed by a staircase in its inner courtyard and its viewing platform at a height of 20 metres offers a fabulous view of the centre of Merano and the entire Burgraviate. If you look from the tower towards Passeirer Tor, you will immediately see the well-preserved remains of the old Merano city wall.

Messner Mountain Museum Juval | Kastelbell

How to reach the Messner Mountain Museum Juval

The museum in Juval Castle in Vinschgau is dedicated to the Magic of the Mountain and houses several fine art collections: a Tibetica collection, a gallery of paintings of the world’s holy mountains, a collection of masks from five continents, a unique Gesar of Ling exhibition, a Tantra Room and the Expedition Cellar. Trained guides are available to explain all the exhibits. There is also a small mountain zoo, home-grown produce at the Schlosswirt tavern, excellent wines in Unterortl, and, at the foot of the hill, a farmhouse shop. Juval Castle always makes a big impression in so many ways.

Modern mountaineering is 250 years old. What came before that has not been recorded. But the mountains are millions of years old. They are an aid to orientation for mankind and always have been. They are an expression of everything that lies beyond and requires no justification. For me, the holy mountains came last. The Dolomites, West Alps, Andes, and the Himalayas are stationed along the path of understanding – and the realization that beyond all sheer faces and other challenges there is a dimension that defies quantification! Today the holy mountains are of special interest to me as a researcher and alpinist. I have a particular focus on Milarepa, to whom a separate room is devoted. Having spent almost four decades as a pioneer in rock climbing and high-altitude mountaineering, I am fascinated by those peaks that have special meaning for the local inhabitants, like Mount Kailash in Tibet, Fujiyama in Japan, and Uluru or Ayers Rock in Australia. I have chosen Juval Museum to house the Myth of the Mountain. The castle, perched like an eyrie on a rocky promontory and decorated with frescoes by B. Till Riemenschneider, is well worth a visit itself, and the courtyards and a dozen rooms are open to the public.

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

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Contact:
Messner Mountain Museum Juval
Juval 3
39025 Naturno
+39 0471 631264

Upper Vinschgau Valley Museum | Graun

How to reach the Upper Vinschgau Valley Museum

The Museum of the Upper Vinschgau tells the story of the disappearance and reconstruction of the villages of Graun/ Curon and Reschen/ Resia. The collection includes sacral objects and figures from the old village church.

Opening hours:
July – September:
Wednesday at 5 pm with registration

Prices:
voluntary donation

Contact:
Museum Vinschger Oberland
Altes Gemeindehaus
39027 Graun
+39 0473 633101

Herbstenburg Castle | Dobbiaco

How to reach Herbstenburg Castle

Near the parish church of Dobbiaco, at about 1,200 m asl., the impressive Herbstenburg Castle is located. Around 1500, the brothers Kaspar and Christoph Herbst acquired the castle and it was named after them. In the 16th century it was completely remodelled. After the Herbst Family extincted, the castle frequently changed hands, today it is in possession of the Earls Bossi-Fedrigotti.

Herbstenburg Castle was the centre of a complex which reached until the red tower in the north-west of the village. An underground tunnel connected the tower with the castle. The vault of the castle housed a prison. In 1508 and 1511, Herbstenberg Castle was the quarter of Emperor Maximilian I von Habsburg.

Inside the Herbstenburg Castle, gorgeous vaults, frescoes and beamed ceilings can be found as well as wonderful bays, crenellations and grilles. The inside of the castle is not open to the public, but it is really worth visiting also from the outside.

Museum Mansio Sebatum | San Lorenzo

How to reach the Museum Mansio Sebatum

The Museum Mansio Sebatum illustrates the Roman settlement at St. Lorenzen (San Lorenzo), giving an insight into everyday life at a Roman road station in the Alps, with its baths, market place, trade and traffic, as well as the burial cult and Roman deities.

Opening hours:
Monday to Friday: 9 am – 12 am and 3 pm – 6 pm
Saturday: 9 am – 12 am

Prices:

Adults 5,00 €
Reduced (students, civil servants, senior citizens aged 65 and over) 3,00 €
Family ticket (2 adults and children up to 11 years) 10,00 €
School classes (per student) of any age incl. guided tour 2,50 €
Groups of 8 or more people 3,50 €

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Contact:
Museum Mansio Sebatum
J. Renzler Straße 9
39030 Sankt Lorenzen
+39 0474-538196

Castle Fahlburg | Prissiano

How to reach castle Fahlburg 

The castle’s high-quality facilities, for example the ceiling paintings by the significant Baroque painter Stefan Kessler, and the original Conditions the castle, give the rank of an outstanding artistic historical monument to it.

Also the fact, that the castle is in the family von Brandis’s hands since 400 years, is quite rare.
Out of that is important to notice that the Fahlburg is very special, because of it’s connection to the Cultural History of our Country.

Still today the Fahlburg is still a place where literary and cultural events are held, as the “Petrarca-Preis”-award, testified by Hubert Burda and Peter Handke.
Also the Czech poet and President Vaclav Havel used to stay for a while in this beatiful renaissance-monument.

Contact: 
Fahlburg
39010 Prissiano
+39 0473 92 09 30

Nativity Scene Museum Muri-Gries | Bozen

How to reach the Krippensammlung Kloster Muri Gries

Since 1991, the Museum is located in the Romanesque tower of the Gries Castle, now the Benedictine monastery of Muri-Gries.

The Nativity Scenes Exhibition spans three centuries: there are Baroque cribs dating back to 1750 as well as works by well-known South Tyrolean artists of the 20th century.

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

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Contact:
Nativity Scene Museum Muri-Gries
Kloster Muri Gries, Grieser Platz 21
39100, Bozen
+39 0471 281116

The Hirzer hiking area | Merano and surroundings

How to reach the Hirzer

The Hirzer hiking area is mainly located on the municipal territory of Scena, but is easiest to reach from the Passeier Valley, where the valley station of the Hirzer cable car begins in the village of Saltusio.
The hiking area stretches from the middle station of the cable car at an altitude of 1450 metres to the almost 2600 metre high Ifinger summit. In between there are the well-known alpine huts of the Hirzer area, the comfortable alpine path and many smaller but no less interesting hiking trails.
The lifts and alpine pastures in the Hirzer area are open from Easter to All Saints’ Day. As mentioned at the beginning, the Hirzer cable car is the easiest way to reach the hiking area. Because it easily takes you up to 2000 metres above sea level and from here all hiking destinations are within reach. Alternatively, you can also reach the Hirzer from Scena with the Verdins-Oberkirn cable car, from where a somewhat old but romantic chair lift takes you up to 1800 metres to the Grube Inn.

Gustav Mahler house in the Deer Park | Dobbiaco

How to reach the  Gustav Mahler house in the Deer Park

Gustav Mahler spent the summer months from 1908 to 1910 at the Trenkerhof in Altschluderbach, where he composed his Ninth Symphony, the unfinished Tenth Symphony and the “Song of the Earth”. The little house in which he composed bears witness to his stay in Toblach/ Dobbiaco.

Opening hours:
Summer from 9 am to 6 pm
Winter from 10 am to 4 pm
Closed on Thursday

Entry fees:

Adults 5,00 €
Children under 13 years 2,50 €

Contact:
Gustav Mahler house in the Deer Park
Altschluderbach, 3 (im Wildpark)
39034, Dobbiaco
+39 0474 972347