Places of interest in the Dolomites in the Schlern area steeped in tradition

Marvel at the countless attractions your holiday region has to offer you – go on a journey of discovery on your holiday in medieval South Tyrol

South Tyrol, the region of Europe with the largest number of castles, always was an important meeting point between north and south. Especially in the Middle Ages it gained great strategic importance as the more than 800 castles, stately homes and manor houses bear witness. They are waiting for your visit. Some of them are very close to the Residence Park, such as Schloss Prösels and the Trostburg. You can reach them easily on foot. They are open for viewing. Fantastic hiking trails through flowering meadows and woodland lead to the castle ruins of Salegg and Hauenstein, once home of the famous Minnesänger (minstrel) Oswald von Wolkenstein. They are both located in the Hauensteinerwald (woodland) at the foot of the Santner.

In addition to these secular places of cultural interest, there are also numerous beautiful churches and little churches. Each of the 12 parishes of Kastelruth has its own. Mostly they nestle in a charming landsape of meadows in especially enchanting village squares and harbour valuable altars, wonderful frescoes and carved figures of saints. On hikes you also frequently come across old wayside crosses and shrines that invite you to pause for a moment.

Every visitor to Kastelruth must view our church tower. This freestanding impressive church tower does not only have the best peal by far, but is, with its 88 metres, the third highest in the province. There are just under 300 steps leading to the top from where the view is stunning.

With the Calvary site on the Kofel, Kastelruth owns a unique group of buildings for South Tyrol. The route from the village to the hill fort that still has the remains of the former fortification is edged by several chapels and is a pilgrim’s trail that ends at the Romanesque tower on the porphyry rock. The masters of Kastelruth ruled up there in about the year 1000.

As seldom elsewhere old customs and traditions are preserved and are deeply rooted. Not folklore, but the many valuable historical traditional costumes express this consciousness of tradition. They are worn with great pride, especially for religious festivals. Three generations of us all take part in the processions and our traditional costumes, our festive robes of the once purely farming population, have been inherited, in part, from our great great grandmothers. At the country wedding in January our old traditional costumes can also be admired.

The Almabtrieb (transhumance) on the first Saturday in October is a living tradition for us and a very special colourful event for holiday guests. In autumn at the end of grazing on the alpine meadow and the beginning of winter stabling, the cows are garlanded festively with flowers, ribbons as well as large cowbells and driven home from the Seiser Alm. Many people from Italy and abroad do not want to miss this festival. At the harvest festival on the following Sunday the altars are decorated with field crops. The high point of the festival is the harvest festival procession in the afternoon.

It is possible to gain an insight into the working environment and world of thought of our ancesters in the Farmers’ Museum in Tschötscher Hof in St. Oswald and into everyday life at a small, single class school from a long time ago in the School Museum Tagusens.

The large provincial museums are also always worth a visit. For instance the South Tyrol Museum of Archaeology in Bozen, where Ötzi, the Iceman, has found his place, the South Tyrol Museum of Natural History, the Messner Mountain Museum or the Touriseum – Regional Museum for Tourism Trauttmansdorff Castle near Meran.