Chasing the sun, Sat, 11 Sep 2021 | written by Simon
Jemma and Simon at a Castle, City, Museum in Europe, Italy

Last night we applied a tested method of finding a good spot to park: find a small town church, they usually have nice views and small quiet car parks. This one didn’t have a car park of its own, but we found a great spot right above it. Fantastic view in the morning!

Turns out there isn’t much of Austria at this longitude, so it only took us another half an hour before crossing the border. Nobody stopped us, so we got away without doing the border registration that’s supposedly necessary.

We’re in Italy! And mission achieved, by the way – it’s so much warmer here already! This is going to be great.

Soon after crossing the border we saw a few very pictoresque castles on nearby peaks. We stopped by one, Reifenstein, but it was closed on Saturdays. Of all days! There was a small church on the nearby peak (also closed) and a massive smelly and noisy industrial estate in the valley behind them. What a contrast.

We drove on and stopped by the Fortezza Franzensfeste, but decided not to go in. It looked like a standard 19/20th Century fortress and we have more interesting things to see.

The next one was the best. It was quite a mission to drive up the steep slopes to the stunning Trotsburg Castle. It’s not very big and super picturesque. And it turns out it’s a private castle. We got very lucky – they only do a couple tours a day and we have, unknowingly, arrived just as one of them ended. We walked in knowing nothing, walked around a bit, and as we were about to leave, some lady asked us what we’re doing here and kindly asked us to leave and come back at the next tour time (which wasn’t until later in the afternoon). We went, but still sneakily climbed to the guard tower by the main gate. The view from here was breathtaking and left me stunned for quite a while…

Notice something interesting about all those place names? This whole region used to be Bavarian or Austrian and only became part of Italy as the prize for backing the Entente in WW1. There is a lot of changing hands that happened before that as well though and it sounds like South Tirol and parts of Lombardy are very much half-German. All street signs are in both languages, and we can easily speak German in shops etc. Jemma got quite into reading history while I’m driving, which is a great addition to the trip!

To be honest, this time crossing the Alps was a bit less impressive than last time. The Brenner Pass we went through has long been known to be the easiest, shortest way through. That’s great for the commute, but we feel like we just didn’t see that many mountains before they ended. Also, with the pass being the main through route, it’s very busy, built up and industrialised. The motorway is always there, you can always hear it, and it all just breaks the awesomeness of the mountains a bit.

Finally, we made it to our destination for today: Bolzano. Described as the Italian gateway to the Alps, it’s a beautiful small city. The highlight was the archeological museum purpose buit to keep Utzi, the late Stone-Age / early Bronze-Age mummy found in the ice in the mountains in 1991. He was shot with a bow over 5k years ago as he was crossing the mountains and was preserved in ice in great condition, together with his clothes, bow, axe, backpack, and an assortment of other items. A fantastic archeological find and honestly, I think I learned more about the early Bronze age here than in any archeological museum in the past. What can a good story do to spark interest!

We then spent some time looking for food and found our First Pizza in Italy! It was from a small takeaway joint as we only wanted to get something quick and continue sightseeing. We expected the worst, but were pleasantly surprised. Apparently even random fast food joints make excellent pizza in Italy!

By the way, I should mention that I love being a pedestrian in Italy. Basically, nobody gives a fuck. You just walk where you want, lights? what lights? It’s perfect.

We moved on to see the Dominican Basilica – a huge early Gothic church with some preserved frescos (most destroyed during WW2 bombing) and a horribly Baroquen presbiterium. The Cathedral is an OK-ish Gothic church with interesting modern roof cladding. We also went to the Franciscan monastery church and cloisters, which were a bit out of town and quite interesting. Also, the Sacred Heart church, which was really interesting for being neo-Romanesque. Built in the late 19th Century, it’s something of a wonder – maybe because there aren’t that many of the kind, and so it does kind of offer an interesting opportunity to see Romanesque* forms decorations untouched by time.

We walked back to the van by the Bolzano castle and drove off towards the nearby open pool: Piscina Ora. It’s located on the side of the village, with just trees and mountain views around. Great spot. Unfortunatly, although Google said it was open to 9pm, as we got there close to 7pm the guy told us that they are about to close. He was super nice though and let us in for 20 minutes. Perfect amount of time to have a refreshing swim and wash properly. I now have a much happier Jemmy 🙂

Fresh and clean, we set off towards Trento to get ready for sightseeing tomorrow. On the way, I found a 4.7 star pizzeria and we drove there to try some more of the awesomeness. We were surprised to find that the place looked more like a cheap take-away, but hey, why not try it! We took two pizzas to the nearby riverbank and ate them sitting on the little wall by the river. The stars were well-earned, this was some great pizza. With some great nighttime views. Pizzeria Cantuccio in Grumo. Hope it’s there when we come back.

Finally, we drove to Trento and parked at a nice parking lot Jemma found on Park4Night. Night night!