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BOLZANO

Maps

see information for each route

Tourist Information Office

Tourist Board, Italy 39100, Piazza Walther 8, Bolzano

Tel: (0471) 307 000

Fax: (0471) 980 128

E-mail: info@bolzano-bozen.it

Internet: www.bolzano-bozen.it/en/bolzano.htm

Bolzano (Bozen) is the main town in the Adige valley and the capital of the Alto-Adige province. It is the heart of the German-speaking area and has a Tyrolean, rather than Italian, atmosphere. Bolzano has been chosen more as a starting point than as a place to stay, since the three routes in this section are rather dispersed, and there are many accommodation options available in the surrounding villages. This thriving commercial centre lies just off the Brennero autostrada, on the main rail link from Munich to Venice. It also has its own small airport with a few charter flights from the United Kingdom.

Bolzano is also a popular tourist destination, not least because of the excellent museum which has been constructed to house the ‘Ice Man’, nicknamed Otzi, as he was discovered in the Otztal Glacier. The forensic examination on his well-preserved 5000-year-old body was performed by Austrian scientists, and then he was returned to Bolzano (for political, rather than curatorial, reasons). A visit to the exhibition (where a recorded audio-guide can be hired in English) is a fascinating way to spend a day out from your climbing schedule, though, as many people consider it a bad weather option, queues are highly likely when it’s wet.