Old Town of Bolzano

Everything in Bolzano centres around its the Via dei Portici alley and the surrounding squares: Where once the moat protected the city walls, today the Via Museo road leads into the old town. It marks the beginning of the pedestrian zone and welcomes you with the Bolzano Municipal Museum and the South Tyrol Museum of Archaeology just opposite. Thousands of people are waiting here every year to see the glacier mummy in its cooling chamber, since Oetzi left the eternal ice on the Similaun Glacier a few decades ago and found his new home here in Bolzano.

A short walk further on, the Via dei Portici or Laubengasse then begins, with its shops and small cafés. Under each arch, a house stretches far into the town, three floors high and three cellars deep. Under the Arcades of Bolzano themselves, trade was already carried on in the Middle Ages, and in Claudia de' Medici's time, merchants from north and south met at the regular fairs. The Mercantile Museum in the Via Argentieri alley tells of this period and impresses with its vaulted cellars and the Mercantile Building itself, the only Renaissance building in Bolzano.

But shopping can also be done in another way: The popular markets take place on the Townhall Square and the Piazza delle Erbe. Fruit and vegetables are offered at the weekly farmers' market, cut flowers, fresh bread and dried fruit every day on the Piazza delle Erbe. From there, it's just a few steps to the Piazza Walther, the ideal place to enjoy a cappuccino in the sun. Here, surrounded by the cathedral and the Palais Campofranco, the Bolzano Christmas Market takes place. The other seasons are celebrated with the Easter Market, Spring Festival and Harvest Festival.