Wine, castles and bathing lakes: That’s Appiano, South Tyrol’s largest wine-growing municipality
Image gallery: Appiano on the Wine Road
Appiano isn't just South Tyrol's largest wine-growing municipality - with its eleven districts, it also sprawls across a vast area along the South Tyrolean Wine Road. From Riva di Sotto, just before Andriano, down to Caldaro in the south, castles, historic manor houses and winding lanes characterise the landscape. The heart of it all is San Michele Appiano.
At the village edges, apple orchards, vineyards and the Monticolo Lakes stretch out. The slopes rise to the moraine hills of the Mendola - remnants of the last ice age, concealing fascinating natural phenomena like the Ice Holes. People settled here early: Finds from the Bronze Age confirm this.
The Roman road Via Claudia Augusta also passed through Appiano, leaving traces like the recently discovered Roman villa with its mosaic floors. Castles, lakes and wine - in Appiano on the Wine Road, they form a harmonious whole. Numerous wineries and private distilleries produce fine wines and spirits, regularly presenting them to a wide audience.
Festivals such as the WineCultureWeeks in the lanes of San Paolo or "The last cartload of grapes" in the wine village of Cornaiano invite you to sample the local produce with music and entertainment. And wherever you look, you'll always spot one of the proud castles.
These castles are part of what makes Appiano so active: Appiano Castle, Boymont Castle and Corba Castle are linked by the Three Castles Walk. Other manor houses, like Castel Palù-Schulthaus and Ganda Castle, now serve as museums and event venues. Where the settlements give way to nature, you'll find havens of peace, like the Monticolo Forest nature reserve, and sports facilities like the Appiano Golf Club, which is called "The Blue Monster".
