Our travels to Bressanone (aka Brixen) took us through the Val di Funes, a valley in northeast Italy with rolling hills dotted with farms and surrounded by steep alpine peaks.  We stopped for a hike along Santa Magdalena, a scenic trail that passed by family farms, a tiny church, and offered incredible views of the Italian Dolomites when the clouds cleared.  Following our hike and lunch at Fines Hotel & Restaurant, we were fortunate to catch some nice views of the jagged, spiked dolomite mountains. 

Dolomite is a carbonate rock, and the Italian Dolomites are comprised of 32 clusters of dolomite peaks that look like limestone spikes.  The large concentration of this type of rock is only found in Italy and is a UNESCO Heritage Site.

(For all photos, click on the image for a full screen view.)

This region of Italy is close to Austria, so the languages spoken are both German and Italian.  The cuisine, as we discovered at lunch, had a German influence—much different than what you would find in the south of Italy.

We continued on to Bressanone, which used to be called “Brixen,” a German name, until Mussolini, the horrible dictator, came in and changed all of the German names of towns and streets to Italian names and forced the residents to do the same.  The fascist didn’t stop there; he banned the German language and it wasn’t allowed to be taught in the schools.  Austrian history was forbidden from being taught as well.  Mussolini tried to wipe out that entire culture.  Thankfully, it was all ultimately reversed. Signs in the area are in both German and Italian, and German is one of the official languages.

Bressanone / Brixen is a medieval town of about 23,000 people founded in 901 and located in the autonomous Trentino-Alto Adige region.  We found it to be quite charming and enjoyable to explore during the afternoon and evening.

Next up: SWITZERLAND & NORTHERN ITALY #19: VISITING BOLZANO BY TRAIN & CABLE CAR