Posts Tagged ‘bolzano’

The Austrian Navy

Saturday, November 1st, 2014

DSC02376We are in Bolzano (Bozan),Italy. This region of Italy has an identity crisis as it doesn’t know if it’s Italian or Austrian. It belongs to an area known as Tirol: think Heidi, mountains, streudal, and beer. Mix with it pizza and pasta and your confusion would be justified.

Up until World War I, Austria had a coast line on the Adriatic Sea (Colonel Von Trapp from’ Sound of Music’ fame was a submarine commander in real life). The entire region for centuries was germanic and then to the victors go the spoils and it becomes Italian.

Today, all signs are in both languages and 85% of the inhabitants speak German. But it is a rich agricultural and industrial area for Italy (tons of apples are grown here, and of course wine) so despite protests and initiatives, it remains  Italy’s domain.

I think it’s the best of both worlds!