Enjoying the High Life in Italy’s Alps

After two months in Italy, I thought I was beginning to know my adopted country, but suddenly I felt lost and disoriented. Wasn’t that Wienerschnitzel I had just eaten for dinner? And why was I admiring Tirolean architecture and gingerbread houses instead of ancient temples and columns? And reading signs that said Willkommen, Verboten and Ausgang?

I was in Italy, all right, but this was Italy with a different accent. Call it Austria Lite.

Alto Adige (AHL-toe AH-dee-jay) is the home of the spectacular Dolomite mountain range in the eastern section of the northern Italian Alps. It’s 185 miles northeast of Milan but just 25 miles from the Austrian border, and that dual personality is part of its delight.

Nearly everything in Alto Adige, or South Tirol (Sudtirol), is in German and Italian: menus, street signs, people. Yet the beauty of the craggy, snowcapped Dolomites, stretching 100 miles across the top of Italy like 10,000-foot steak knives, is almost beyond words in either language.

Few Americans visit this region, but after reading about the town of Bolzano, which an Italian financial newspaper listed as No. 1 in a quality-of-life survey last year, I knew I had to go. The Swiss and Austrian Alps get more buzz, but Alto Adige boasts a similar array of alpine recreations, such as skiing (which typically lasts until mid-April), hiking and climbing. And there’s more: Its breathtaking scenery and Germanic efficiency, coupled with dirt-cheap Italian prices and hospitality, make a winning combination.

I arrived last month in Bolzano, the capital of the Alto Adige region and doorway to the Dolomites, after a six-hour train ride from Rome. On this 35-degree evening I wandered down narrow cobblestone streets, heard German music pouring out of raucous bars and watched the moonlight reflect off the snowy mountains. No matter the month, the Dolomites still shine. What is German for bellissimo?

When I arrived at my hotel, a gregarious employee, who apparently didn’t think I looked Italian, greeted me in rapid-fire German. He then settled into a rough northern Italian dialect I don’t usually hear in Rome. Then again, I don’t meet many Italians named Walter Feichter.

It turned out that the man owns and manages the Hotel Feichter, which looks like a Swiss chalet and is hidden on a little cobblestone street and up a flight of stairs. I first checked into a room in a wing of the building, but it was too chilly, even for a cold-weather lover like me. So I moved to the main part of the hotel, where my cozy room had a warm down comforter, a phone and a TV, although the view of the mountains was the best entertainment. The location was terrific, the staff pleasant and the price--about $45, including a buffet breakfast--fit my budget.

It’s little wonder this place is bicultural. A market town when settled in the Middle Ages, Bolzano (Bozen in German) became the region’s jewel, bouncing from Bavarian rule to Austrian and belonging to Napoleon’s kingdom in his conquest of Italy. It was part of Austria’s Tirol province until Italy took control in 1918.

During Benito Mussolini’s efforts to Italianize the region in the ‘20s, he added an Italian name to every German one. Even so, I often forgot which country I was in.

To this day, German and Italian are compulsory in school, and 4% of the region’s 450,000 people speak a third language, called Ladin, a Romance dialect dating to 15 BC.

Alto Adige clearly slants toward the Austrian side of the border. The influence is visible in its architecture, its language and its night life. Most of the buildings are in Tirolean style, with handsome dark wood and small windows designed to guard against the cold. On nearly every corner is a Gothic tower. The buildings are done in oranges, greens, aquas, even pinks.

On Piazza Walther (Waltherplatz), the heartbeat of this town lined with tony cafes and restaurants, I substituted some deutscher Kaffee (German coffee) for my daily cappuccino.

I asked every person I met here what his or her native language was. People are raised speaking German or Italian and learn the other in school, but they tend to gravitate to their own.

“There are German bars, and there are Italian bars,” one German-speaking soldier told me. Bus drivers greeted me in Italian. Pizza vendors spoke German. Waitresses asked in Italian if I wanted German or Italian menus. Kids holding snowboards waiting for ski buses yelled in German.

Unlike Rome, where cafes are the center of socializing and public drunkenness is the ultimate faux pas, Bolzano is crawling with bars, and I saw people way over the limit. Also unlike Rome, nearly everyone drinks beer, primarily German. I didn’t see a single Peroni or Moretti, Italy’s two national beers, the entire week I was here.

A charming restaurant called Hopfen & Co. featured German beer ads along the walls leading to the upstairs dining room, where a fireplace extended a warm welcome. I had a bicultural meal: a terrific pork dish called stinco di maiale alla griglia (grilled pork shanks), delectable sauerkraut, roasted potatoes, two glasses of Chianti and apple strudel, all for $18.

Later, in a young person’s hangout called Bar Scheune, I asked bartender Christian Zanalla which country people identified with.

“We are not Italy,” said Zanalla, who grew up in Bolzano. “We are not Germany. We are Sudtirol.”

Bolzano’s cobblestone paths lead to a plethora of high-end pottery and glass shops, books on feng shui, jewelry stores and expensive knickknacks for people who don’t need anything. But the panoramic view of the mountains is free of commercialism and stunning in its simplicity.

I went to the tourist office to ask what part of this huge range I should visit and where best to photograph the Dolomites.

“Walk outside,” the tourist agent said.

I thought he was being sarcastic. He wasn’t, and, indeed, in the light of day, he was correct: The mountains were visible from any angle nearly anywhere here. When I told him I wanted a closer look, he pulled out a relief map the size of a tablecloth. I settled on Val Gardena. The next morning I caught an 8 o’clock bus that went east from Bolzano and north toward the Austrian border before turning east again. This must be one of the best bus rides in Europe, I thought. The half-dozen or so passengers and I relaxed in the comfortable, Greyhound-size vehicle as it followed the half-frozen Isarco River through a deep, narrow canyon. The sun had just started to brighten the Dolomites’ snowcapped peaks. Waterfalls looked like ice sculptures. Halfway up the mountain, a medieval castle overlooked the river.

All too soon we pulled into the tiny town of Santa Cristina, where I jumped on a gondola that shot through the middle of a bowl flanked by mountains as menacing as giant pitchforks. I was in altitudinal heaven.

In some ways the Dolomites are more intimidating than the Himalayas. Although not as tall, every peak stands alone, and you can trace each from its tree-lined base, up its sheer face of golden rock to its snowy top, making this one of the world’s top rock climbing areas. One false step, though, and it’s an unobstructed fall down thousands of feet.

The uniqueness of the Dolomites comes from their origins as coral reefs. Millions of years ago, tropical forest and a shallow sea covered this area. The receding of the water, combined with the formation of the Alps, raised this seabed to extraordinary heights. Marine fossils are still found in the pinnacles.

It also formed a natural ski area. As I rode up in the gondola with a foursome from Bologna, I asked about the skiing. “Difficile,” replied one of them. At least the reply wasn’t “Impossibile.”

Still, Val Gardena is one of the more popular ski areas in Alto Adige. It can be packed in high season, although snow has so far been scarce this winter, the lowest in 40 years, and the few runs operating during my January trip were using artificial snow. More than a million people a year, primarily Italians and Germans, ski here.

Alto Adige has 28 ski areas, including numerous sites northwest of Bolzano with easy access to Parco Nazionale dello Stelvio and the spectacular Ortles range. Expert schussers can try “ski safaris” to outback areas where the snow is untouched and the skiers are few. Best of all, accommodations are inexpensive. Four-star hotels go for as little as $100, and bed-and-breakfasts minutes from the ski slopes may go for $40. Lift tickets run about $27 a day.

Skiing isn’t the only activity. Even in January, hiking was terrific. At Val Gardena I left the gondola and walked up a slight incline that started curling around the mountain. Every turn brought a new angle to a gorgeous panorama of the peaks.

In between were the pretty pastures of Alpe di Siusi, one of the highest plains in the Alps. You’ll find a bench about every 200 feet along the trail, and I sat on each of them. It wasn’t much of a workout, but I never missed a view. I stopped for a bite at a ski lodge halfway up a run. Even an Italian bun with cellophane-wrapped cheese tasted good in this setting.

Waiting for my bus later that day in Santa Cristina, I stopped in a woodcarving shop. This area is known for figurines of clowns, angels and religious figures made from maple and pine. It’s also known for the preservation of the Ladin culture. Helmut Karbon, 37, a Ladin-speaking woodcarver, has lived in the valley all his life and doesn’t plan to leave.

“This area is very special,” said Karbon, who also guides ski safaris in the winter. “You have many possibilities to do so many things. You can walk in the mountains, hike, ski. The Rocky Mountains take so long to see. You can see so much here in such a little time.”

True. The next day, making connections on buses running with Germanic precision, I took off for the far southeast corner of Alto Adige. Here the mountain bowls were double the size of those I had seen the day before. The canyon narrowed as the peaks on both sides grew bigger. We paralleled a river, and each turn produced a new mountain fortress peeking through an opening in the range.

The 3 1/2-hour bus ride, a bargain at $28 round trip, finally ended at Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy’s famed ski resort for the rich and famous, which is covered with pricey chalets and trendy restaurants. But the view was free.

By the time I left Alto Adige, I had learned the German word for bellissimo. It’s wunderschon, but beauty is the same in any language.

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Guidebook: Finding the Best of Both Worlds Around Alto Adige

Getting there: From L.A. to Munich, Lufthansa, KLM, Delta, British Airways and US Airways have connecting service with a change of planes. Restricted round-trip fares begin at $624.

From L.A. to Milan, Alitalia has nonstop service; Lufthansa, KLM, Delta, British Airways, United, Air France and Continental have connecting service. Restricted round-trip fares begin at $690.

Bolzano is 185 miles northeast of Milan and about 180 miles south of Munich, Germany.

A second-class train ticket from Milan is about $34; the trip takes three hours, 20 minutes. From Munich it’s four hours for $49. Telephones: To call the numbers below from the U.S., dial 011 (the international dialing code), 39 (country code for Italy) and the local number.

Getting around: The local bus system, SAD, is comfortable, cheap, efficient and just two blocks from Bolzano’s train station. It goes through nearly every small town in Alto Adige. If you’d rather rent a car, Avis, 0471-971-467, charges $70 a day including insurance, and Maggiore Budget, 0471-971-531, charges $55. Keep in mind that gas in Italy runs about $4 a gallon.

Where to stay: There are 6,000 hotel beds and 18,000 apartments in Alto Adige.

In Bolzano, the Hotel Feichter, 0471-978-768, www.paginegialle.it/feichter, a five-minute walk from the train station, charges $45 a night for a single. Across the street, the luxurious, four-star Parkhotel Laurin, 0471-311-000, www.laurin.it, has singles starting at $100 and doubles at $150. On Piazza Walther, Citta-Stadthotel, 0471-975-221, www.citta.sudtirol.com, runs $70-$160.

In Santa Cristina, rooms at Hotel Piccolo, 0471-795-186, www.hotel-piccolo.com, are $55-$130 in the winter and $40-$90 in the summer.

Where to eat: Bolzano is packed with good restaurants serving Italian and German cuisine.

Hopfen & Co., Piazza dell’Erbe 71, 0471-300-788, is a warm, cozy place with a fireplace upstairs and a lively bar downstairs. Entrees are $5-$10.

Il Cavallino Bianco, 6 Via Bottai, 0471-973267, is much more casual and a bit cheaper; $3-$6. For an excellent pizza for $5, go across the street to Restaurante Mussbaumer, 11 Via Bottai, 0471-973-950.

Where to ski: Alto Adige has 29 ski areas. Dolomiti Superski, 0471-079-3046, www.dolomitisuperski.com, in Val Gardena charges $27 a day for adults in low season (March 17-April 7)

and $30 in high season (Feb. 3-

March 6). Ski Center Latemar, 0462-813-265, www.skicenterlatemar.it, runs five ski areas in Val di Fiemme, charging $22 for low season and $25 for high. Speikboden, 0474-678-122, in the northeast part of Alto Adige, charges $18 from Jan. 6-Feb. 2 and March 17-April 14, and $24 from Dec. 25-Jan. 5 and Feb. 3-March 16.

For more information: Regional and city tourist offices can provide hotel guides and prices. Alto Adige’s provincial tourist office, 0471-307-000, www.hallo.com, is at 11 Piazza Parrocchia. It is open 9 a.m.-noon and 2-5 p.m. Mondays-Fridays.

Bolzano’s tourist office, 0471-307-000, at 8 Piazza Walther, is open 9 a.m.-6:30 p.m. Mondays-Fridays and 9 a.m.-12:30 p.m. Saturdays. Santa Cristina’s tourist office, 0471-793-046, is at 9 Str. Chemun.

Italian Government Tourist Board, 12400 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 550, Los Angeles, CA 90025; (310) 820-1898, fax (310) 820-6357, www.italiantourism.com and www.enit.it.

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John Henderson is a freelance writer living in Rome.