Bolzano: Christmas on Steroids

I mentioned in my post about romanticized ideas of moving to Italy that the bureaucracy is a monster who gleefully eats up your patience every time you produce more of it. That is what happened to me last week when I returned from a trip to Venice and Bolzano during Christmas. The day I got back to Florence, I learned there were two very tight deadlines I had to meet: One for home owners who might want to rent out their home, and the other for licensed guides to maintain their license. What ensued was was a battle of a lone Titan (me) against the Olympians of bureaucracy.

I’ve already blocked most of it out. But let’s just say that Italian governmental websites really suck.

I spent days trying over and over to upload images of my IDs, ensuring over and over that they were the correct format, the correct size, but always getting an error. Of course the error did not state what the problem was. This was on both sites, the one where documentation was required for renting out my apartment and the one where new documentation was needed for my guide license.

To try to meet the deadlines, I was up until 4:00am one night, still battling with the websites.

I lost a few full days and a few nights, trying to jump through those hoops. Thus, I did not write the Substack post I’d hoped to write last week. Now that I have somewhat recovered my sanity, here’s my enthusiastic story about Bolzano.

Bolzano Packs a Punch at Christmas

This lovely city is in South Tyrol—a region that came under Italian rule in 1919. After World War I, the Allies awarded South Tyrol to the Kingdom of Italy against the wishes of the German-speaking majority of the population.

Seventy percent of population of South Tyrol is German-speaking and this took me by surprise when I first went to Bolzano in the 1980s when I was twenty.

I’d finished a five-month program in Florence and had gone up to Germany to join a peace walk. When I trained back down to Italy, I looked at my big fold out paper map, and figured Bolzano was a good place to break up the long train ride, get a hotel, a shower, and a meal. (This was before high speed trains so it was a longer journey than it is today.)

Back then, given there was no internet to look things up and given that I’d not yet gone to university, (where I got a stronger grip on history) and I had no idea about the cession of South Tyrol and I was befuddled as to why everyone I encountered in Bolzano tried to speak German to me.

I spent my 16 hours there repeating in Italian, “I’m sorry, I don’t speak German, but I speak Italian.” I felt like adding, and we are in Italy aren’t we? But I sensed I might be bumbling into a cultural sore point—I just didn't know what it was.

This all came back to me ten days ago as my friend and I boarded the train I’d booked from Venice to Bolzano. I asked the man serving food on the train something in Italian. He replied in German, “I don’t speak Italian.”

Ah, I thought, already it’s coming up! Not just when we get there, but on the train going there. 😆

Then, what cinched the experience was a comment by a jovial young guy named Antonio working at the Gasthof where my friend and I stayed. I noticed large green tins holding tea and asked Antonio about them. He took the lids off for me to smell the loose leaf tea and I commented that it’s not easy to come across quality tea in Italy.

He said, “Ma non siamo in Italia. Siamo in Sud Tirolo.”

But we are not in Italy. We are in South Tyrol.

This got a big grin out of me. It was just so darn culturally interesting.

Needless to say, German traditions are kept alive in Bolzano and this is why it’s so enchanting at Christmas.

The Christmas Market

The city’s Christmas market is famous. Located in Piazza Walther, the eighty wooden chalets sell only products made in South Tyrol. This really sets it apart, particularly for me as an American, coming from a country where Christmas is heavily commercialized. Bolzano oozes authenticity.

Plenty of the chalets offered food. We got soup and pretzels at one, and ate, standing, with our food set on a big wooden barrel. I talked to the locals next to me about the weather— about the fact that it was so mild. “It shouldn’t be this mild in late December,” they agreed.

We were enthralled walking around the historic center. It was all car-free. The streets existed for the enjoyment of the pedestrians only. The attractive Tyrolean architecture was bedecked in Christmas gaiety, and we frequently came across stands selling glühwein and hot cider.

We listened to trumpets played by young guys who were standing in a storybook window. (click to view video)

I scoped out the best wine bar. It’s Banco 11 in Piazza delle Erbe. And for beer, Hopfen & Co. also in Piazza dell Erbe.

The market is open from late November (the Friday of the first weekend of Advent) to Epiphany, on January 6th.

Those who organize it strive to make it “green” and encourage people to travel to Bolzano by train instead of by car, which we did. I found only one direct train from Venice to Bolzano. It was a RJ train rather than the Frecciarossa I am accustomed to. I hadn’t heard of a RJ and I didn't know what to expect. It was very modern and the German menu even offered organic food! 😮 (click to view video)

The Iceman Museum

We also visited Ötzi the Iceman in the museum made just for him.

Do you remember hearing about exciting find of Ötzi back in 1991?

Ötzi lived over 5,000 years ago and died near a glacier, in what is now Italian territory very near the Austrian border. In unusual circumstances, he was preserved as a “wet mummy”. Water was drawn from his body in the dry atmosphere below the aerated snow cover. Then he was encased in ice years later. This freeze-drying process persevered him for all time.

I could barely get my head around it. I could imagine a person being preserved like that for a few hundred years and then being found. But FIVE THOUSAND?

And it gets even more exciting! The things Ötzi had with him. Wow. He had a backpack. He had a first aid kit. I came face to face with his bearskin cap. No, not a replica. The real thing he wore on his head. Preserved along with him. I could see the stitches in it. The thread of animal sinew.

Have you come face to face with a piece of clothing from FIVE THOUSAND years ago? Seriously, it’s exciting.

The museum was crowded, of course, because the week between Christmas and Ephipany in Italy always is in popular places. While I recommend Bolzano at Christmas, I also recommend this museum in lower season if you can manage it. But go no matter what. We had to skip a few exhibits about Ötzi because of the crowds but wow, we were absolutely fascinated, and the museum is done very thoughtfully.

His bones, organs, and tissues are preserved, allowing for examinations that tell us about his state of health, his diet, his age, his DNA. His last meal probably consisted of vegetables, bread, and Alpine ibex. He was lactose-intolerant. Isn’t that fascinating?

Ötzi is stored in a specially designed cold cell and can be viewed through a small window. The picture of me is with “him” is a life-size rendition of what he may have looked like.

In a country filled with hundreds of must-see museums, here’s one more. I highly recommend it.

The iceman museum is closed on Mondays except in July, August, and December.

The Gasthof

We stayed at Gasthof Kohlern, which dates back to 1899. To get there, we took suspension cable car from Bolzano up a mountain. Built in 1908, it’s the world’s first suspension cable car. It was dark when we got to the “funivia station” and no one was there. The cable car was just sitting there and we climbed in and it began to move.

It went almost 180 degrees straight up. Then, we pulled our suitcases up a snowy, barely lit road to the Gasthof. And soon after we were having dinner in a large, warm, dining room with a Christmas tree, Tyrolean chairs, candles, and a long row of windows hanging over the mountain side with the lights of Bolzano far below.

Breakfasts were heavenly. The breakfast room was so serene and pretty with views of snowy mountain tops and the food was just my style. Local and organic. As soon as I saw the raspberry puree (one of my favorite things in the world) I wanted to move in😆. The local cheeses were fun to try. Totally different from Tuscan cheese I’m used to. And the quality of the eggs! I don’t think I’ve ever had a such a delicious fried egg.

If you don’t want to drive in the Dolomites, following what I’ve laid out here is a good approach. Lots of trails are right out of the door of Gasthof Kohlern, so you are able to get some mountain time as well as exploring Bolzano.

Have I convinced you to go? I know I’d like to go back. Have you been? Have you seen the Ötzi the iceman? Share in the comments 😃