I’m not sure what I expected from South Tyrol. Well, I know exactly what I expected. I thought it would be a section of Austria stuck in Italy. The high baroque churches, the alpine wooden houses, etc. I’m sure that exists in parts of South Tyrol, don’t get me wrong. I definitely saw some traditional Austrian-looking villages on the way south while traveling over the Brenner Pass (after the Italian military police had searched the train for 20 minutes). But once I reached Margreid an der Weinstrasse (the village where Samuel lives), I quickly realized that South Tyrol was more like ethnic Germans living in Italy. Everything looked Italian, but everyone in the town spoke German. It was truly a weird combination. The Mediterranean courtyard-style houses with red roofs. The lazy stray cats prowling the streets. The vineyards on the mountains and apple orchards in the valley below. The weather- a scorching mid-90s Fahrenheit (it was 97 degrees when I arrived). Oh, and I couldn’t forget the most important aspect: the Vespas. They fly down the main street in the late evenings and early mornings and hurtle comically down the roads out of town. On a tangent, the reason Vespas are popular in Italy is that you only need to be 14 to drive one. 14 years old!
Samuel’s town, Margreid an der Weinstrasse, is one of the farthest south German-speaking towns in Europe. It’s a small town only a few kilometers from the border with Trento, the first essentially fully Italian region in the Etsch Valley (or Adige Valley in Italian). It’s a super cute village with a little village center directly outside the window of my room. Samuel’s mother runs the family general store right in the center. The house is directly above the store, along with the warehouse there as well. Samuel described the warehouse as a “mini-Costco” (or at least that’s what he guessed Costco would be like from seeing it online). I mean, I guess you could say that. In the center of the town is a grapevine that has been growing for over 400 years! Supposedly the longest-living proven grapevine in the whole world.
The village of Margreid sits directly below the Fennberg mountain, a huge 2,000-foot edifice that towers over the village and the Etsch valley below. Despite the awful heat, the sun goes down in Margreid in the summer around 5 pm because of the height of the mountain near it (while the rest of the valley is still in full sunlight). The mountain itself also offers some dangers. Many of the towns near Margreid have problems with landslides or boulders breaking off from their heights and crashing through them. I decided it was probably best not to think about that while staying in Margreid. . .
The house I stayed in with Samuel’s family is over 400 years old, and I specifically stayed in the Jägerzimmer (or hunter's room) of the house (I put a photo below to show it). The house is massive and with literally dozens of different rooms. There’s also an absurd amount of stairs and steps everywhere. The house has been built gradually over the years, with the newest portion by Samuel’s mother and father when they had their family. Samuel’s Aunt and her mother also live in the building, and Samuel’s grandmother did before she passed away this year. It feels like a house with immense history, one that was apartment the first night when I opened the wrong door and almost crashed down the steps into the stone cellar.
Upon arriving at the train station, I was greeted by Samuel and his mother. For some context, I met Samuel during one of my first weeks in Vienna while cooking. After talking, we became friends, and he invited me to his hometown in South Tyrol. I had also met his mom before when she came to pick him up from university in Vienna. Samuel’s mother is originally from Slovakia, near Bratislava, and some of Samuel’s relatives still live there. Through many years of moving around the German-speaking areas of Europe, she eventually met her husband in South Tyrol. Her story is pretty amazing, and I feel I’d be doing a great disservice trying to describe it here. She’s a very strong but extremely generous person. She truthfully showed me incredible hospitality the whole time while I was staying with Samuel.
That said, I wasn’t greeted with the same hospitality by everyone. Samuel’s family has a dog called Ricky that absolutely HATED me. Samuel said he distrusts newcomers in the family, potentially because of something that happened when Ricky was little. Whatever the reason, Ricky didn’t trust me from the start. The minute I arrived, he rushed me at the door and started biting me. It wasn’t a big deal since Ricky is about the smallest Yorkshire Terrier you can imagine. Even after feeding him a few times, he’d turn his back and suddenly start after me. On the third day of staying with Samuel, I think Ricky realized I was staying for a while. His biting didn’t do anything, and yet I was still there. So instead, he decided to growl at me and stare at me with eyes of utter loathing whenever he could. I think we both came to an understanding that we probably weren’t gonna like each other, but we’d have to just get along. I gotta give it to him, though. He certainly was persistent in his loathing.
Anyway, the first day in Margreid was as hot as the netherworld. Samuel’s house doesn’t have air conditioning (which is normal around here), and as mentioned, it was 97 degrees out. Inside it felt like a sauna. We took a siesta during mid-day, and then Samuel showed me around the village once the sun went down below the mountain and the temperature dropped a little. The town is full-Mediterranean. The gardens are gorgeous and full of warm-weather flowers. The palm trees sway in the wind, and olive trees dot the hillsides. That day we had a classic dinner of pasta and marinara sauce with Caprese salad. This time though, with real Mozzarella cheese and fresh tomatoes (and olive oil that was to die for).
The following day, Samuel and I decided to wake up early and hike to the top of Fennberg to swim near the family cottage there. Well, I should say “attempted to go hiking”. After making it a few hundred feet up the mountain, we were both drenched in sweat and suffering in the heat (it was already in the high 80s Fahrenheit- with pretty crazy humidity that day because it had rained overnight). So instead, we turned around and took the bus to the top. The bus takes you to the top of the Fennberg and then around the other side to a small valley. It’s in this small valley area (called Unterfennberg) where Samuel's family's cottage is. It’s basically like our equivalent of a summer lakeside cottage- except this one is only a short 25-minute bus ride away and directly above the village of Margreid. Anyway, in the small valley lies the Fennberger See (Lake Fennberg), which is probably one of the prettiest places I’ve ever gone swimming. After swimming, we ate at a restaurant/hotel (Gasthof) nearby and then returned to the cottage to relax and nap in the yard for a few hours. Once the temperature finally decreased, we made our way down the side of the mountain and descended the 2000+ feet back to Margreid.
The following day we woke up and had a hearty breakfast of bread, Italian meats (OMG the prosciutto), and local sweet rolls. We then traveled about 30 minutes or so by train to the regional capital of Bozen (or Bolzano). Bozen is a beautiful city with a controversial history. Now you might be asking yourself, “Why is there this German-speaking region of Italy in the first place?” Great question! And even if you didn’t ask, I’m going to answer it anyway ;)
Essentially the Austro-Hungarian Empire and Italy became locked in a deadly stalemate in the mountains at the end of WWI. At first, it looked like the Austrians would win the war against Italy. However, through increased support from other Allied powers (British, French, American), the tied of the war changed at the battle of the Piave, and the Austro-Hungarians were kicked out of the plains around Venice (they came extremely close to capturing the famous city). After that point, the war dragged on in the mountains resulting in a stalemate after the deaths of literally hundreds of thousands of troops. The trenches from the first world war still zig-zag through the mountains of northern Italy and Slovenia, a remnant from a mostly forgotten front of WWI. Anyway, at the end of the war, the Italians wanted reparations for all of their war dead, and one such reparation they wanted was the conquest of South Tyrol. From a military perspective, it makes a lot of sense. The Brenner Pass is a natural barrier to Austria and the German-speaking world. The Etsch valley is a wide-open plain where future Austrian troops could invade through. So South Tyrol was transferred into Italian lands, and the majority ethnic German population could do nothing about it. After being a well-integrated part of Austria, they now had to find their path in a comparatively homogenous nation-state (although Italians might tell otherwise- Northerners will make any excuse to say Southern Italians are barbarians or something like that).
For a while (well truthfully, only a few years), the Germans of South Tyrol had relative independence and freedom. Then Mussolini came to power. Everything changed. He was driven not by military necessity but by ethnic motivations. For him and his fascists, the Germans of the Etsch Valley were occupying land given to the Italians by a higher power. There was no greater proof of this than the Brenner-pass, whose geographical “perfection” only indicated to them that Italians were meant to go to its very borders. So Mussolini started a quick and sudden campaign of cultural and lingual repression. He shuttered all German-speaking schools and banned Germans from public services. All German judges were fired, killed, or “voted out” of office. However, Mussolini did not engage in outright ethnic cleansing. Maybe he was scared of his neighbor to the north over the Austrian border (a quickly emerging fascist Nazi Germany). Either way, his tactic of ending German in South Tyrol was simple, move a ton of Italians there and supplant the German population. These Italian settlers came in droves to live in the brand new, fascist-built section of Bozen (where only Italians were allowed to live). I’ve shared many photos of this section of the city (as well as other photos) below. The many ethnic Germans of South Tyrol were often initial supporters of the Nazis, for exactly the reasons that Hitler espoused in many of his speeches. He was supposed to be the great uniter of the German people. Well, turns out he was a liar (Who would have thought!). He turned his head the other way when it came to South Tyrol, angering many of the native Germans here. After the war, the region of South Tyrol regained much of its independence. Today it is one of only two autonomous regions in Italy (the other being Sicily). It retains 90% of its tax revenue (a topic of serious contention since it is the wealthiest Italian province) and generally has the best infrastructure, public services, etc. With that said it's still poorer on average than Germany or Austria. Movements to rejoin Austria or become its own country are still strong here and indicated by the myriad of political posters hanging up everywhere. I think for his part, Samuel wishes that South Tyrol could just be left alone (preferably independent) without the meddling of either Austria or Italians. But that will probably never happen, and South Tyrol will continue to be that one weird section of Italy that speaks German.
After traveling to Bozen, we spent the next day resting a bit. I made Uncle John’s famous Mac and Cheese again (Samuel was a huge fan the first time and wanted his Mom and Sister to try it). He was still amazed by how much cheese we put into it. Once again, we couldn’t find any real cheddar. It’s funny how you don’t think about these things until it becomes a problem. . . In Vienna, we found some so-so British Cheddar (it’s not the same as the stuff from Wisconsin but close enough). Trying to find Cheddar cheese, British or American, in Bozen was essentially impossible, so we compromised with Grier. Anyway, the following afternoon, Samuel’s mother took him and me on a short trip to see her favorite monastery on a mountain above the Etsch Valley. The monastery is dedicated to Mary, and there are hundreds of photos of people describing illnesses, injuries, etc., and them thanking Mary for her help saving them. There are also about 50 motorcycle helmets there as well for motorcyclists who got into crashes and survived (don’t know if that’s a sign or something. . . ). We also drove back into the valley towards the Kalterersee (literally translated as the cold lake), where Samuel had often gone as a kid. It was rainy, so we didn’t go swimming, but it was another spectacular location, once again filled with German tourists. Basically, every tourist in South Tyrol is either German or Austrian because then they can say they went to Italy, while at the same time not having to worry about changing the language. Without German tourists, the region would seriously struggle, and Samuel’s mom was extremely thankful for the business it brought to Margreid. Along those lines, we later went to one of the wine cellars of a neighboring town. The wine cellar in Samuel’s town was sadly closed for renovations, so they took me to the town over to show the best of what the valley had to offer. Community wine cellars like this (see photos below) cater hard to mainly German tourists as well as international tourists. They are financially funded through a combination of local winery support and government money. This one was particularly incredible. I felt a bit like a Bond villain sipping wine and staring at the southern view of the Etsch Valley.
Sadly my time with Samuel and his family had to end eventually. The 14th of July was the last partial day I had with him. I had to catch a train in the late afternoon to Milan to meet up with my friend Chiara for the trip down the Italian coast. For Friday, Samuel booked a tour of the Bletterbach Gorge, a cool geological formation created over millions of years in the mountains west of Margreid. It’s a site with a Unesco designation (along with eight others in South Tyrol). The tour was 3.5 hours long and walked us through the gorge and along the Bletterbach River/ creek as it rushed through the gorge. The gorge is also well known for its rocks that hold the fossils of ancient sea creatures (when this part of the world was a sea) and dinosaurs. It was a great tour and a fun way to get involved with the history of South Tyrol (the ancient history, that is). After the tour, I sadly had to say goodbye to Samuel and his wonderful family. I couldn’t thank everyone enough for their generosity and kindness in showing me around the spectacular Etsch Valley. I know I will be back someday. Samuel is a great friend, and the Etsch Valley offers a great combination of German and Italian (and I won’t ever have to learn Italian to go to Italy- wow I really am just as lazy as the German tourists. . . ).
How great that you made a life long friend in Samuel during your time in Vienna and you were able to spend time with he and his family in such a unique area of Italy (or is it Austria....). Hopefully he travels to the U.S. someday and we can host him as graciously as his family did you. Margreid looks so quaint and beautiful and Bozen looked cool too and of course spectacular mountain views again!
ReplyDeleteNick not only do I love to hear about the sights and history of the places that you visit but also all the people you have met along the way. Samuel's family and others that you have visited have been so nice and generous. What a wonderful experience.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I really hope that he'll be able to come to the US someday. I'd love to show him our beautiful country. Sad to say goodbye though!
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