The municipality of Brennero is located at the border to Austria and comprises the localities of Brennero, Fleres, Terme di Brennero, Moncucco, Ponticolo and last but not least Colle Isarco, the chief village. It owes its fame above all to the homonymous alpine pass, the Passo del Brennero. Nevertheless the main attractions of the municipality are the Tribulaun mountain, the Ladurno skiing area as well as the thermals springs of Terme di Brennero.

With 1,374 m, the Passo del Brennero is the lowest pass in the Alpine divide in the Austrian Central Alps and is embedded between two mountain chains. These ridges are at the same time watershed between Sill and Isarco as well as main water divide between the Adriatic and Black Sea. The Passo del Brennero used to be, and is still, an important junction for international rail and road traffic between north and south.

Where the term Brennero actually comes from, is still uncertain. Most probably it derives from an Alpine people called "Breuni" or "Brenni" that settled this area millenniums ago.