South Tyrol’s youngest town combines sports fields and a fairground with barbecue facilities in its Vallarsa recreation zone
Image gallery: Town of Laives
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From Nova Ponente in the Val d'Ega valley, the Vallarsa Valley stretches down into South Tyrol's south: Where it meets the Adige riverbed is the town of Laives (Stadt Leifers). The place has been popular for centuries and millennia, even the Gallic people of the Raetians cultivated wine here. You can visit the remains of one of the Gallic farms found in recent years at the playground in the Via Galizia road. In the Via Rio Vallarsa, on the other hand, at the end of which the Lord Baden Powell Park commemorates the founder of the Scouts, the sports grounds can be found.
The interesting mix of present and past continues in the entire town centre: The old parish church of St. Anton Abbot and St. Nicholas was extended by a new building, and the town hall made of reddish porphyry stone from Laives is also part of the urban restructuring. In autumn, "Laives Rock" takes place on its forecourt. A lively club life has established in Laives over the past decades. Among the most important are the well-known Dolomite choir "Coro Monti Pallidi" and the theatre association "Filodrammatica", which performs Italian dialect theatre.
High above the town, enthroned on a hill is the St. Peter Chapel, called "Peterköfele", which also adorns the municipal coat of arms. It stands on the old pilgrims' path, today a hiking trail that connects the town with the Madonna di Pietralba Pilgrimage Site. Since 1787, the original statue of the Virgin Mary from Pietralba has adorned the altar of the parish church in Laives. Another route, but steeper and with some rope-secured sections, starts at the parish church: the Laives High Route, which then winds its way beneath the steep porphyry walls to Flavon Castle.
