Politics & society:

• Together with North and East Tyrol (which are still Austrian provinces), South Tyrol belonged to the Habsburg and subsequently the Austro-Hungarian Empire from 1363 until 1919. As part of the Treaty of London (April 1915) during the First World War the Allies promised Italy all Austrian territories south of the Brenner Pass, a commitment they were held to at Versailles in spite of grave reservations by President Woodrow Wilson at "consigning the three hundred thousand bed-rock Germans who live in the South Tyrol to the grasping Romans." (citation April 26, 1919)
• Today South Tyrol is part of the Italian region Trentino-Südtirol, which comprises the two autonomous provinces of Trento and Bolzano/Bozen. Italy's northernmost province, South Tyrol, enjoys a far-reaching autonomous status with wide-ranging powers devolved to the South Tyrol Provincial Government over areas which would otherwise be regulated by the state (road building, the health and social services, etc.)
• South Tyrol has approx. 500,000 inhabitants
• There are three official languages in South Tyrol: 70% of the population speak German as their first language, 25% speak Italian and 5% Ladin. Ladin is a Rhaeto-Romanic language still spoken in the Dolomite valleys of Val Gardena/Gröden and Alta Badia.
• The school system is divided according to languages. Depending on the school, German or Italian is taught as the first foreign language, while in the Ladin valleys classes are taught in all three languages.
• Bolzano/Bozen is South Tyrol's largest town with almost 100,000 inhabitants. It is the provincial capital and seat of the Provincial Government. South Tyrol's six other towns are: Merano/Meran (approx. 36,000 inhabitants), Bressanone/Brixen (approx.17,000), Brunico/Bruneck (approx.14,000), Chiusa/Klausen (approx. 5,000), Vipiteno/Sterzing (approx. 6,000) and Laives/Leifers (approx. 15,000 inhabitants).

Geography:

• South Tyrol covers an area of 7,400 km², 80% of which is classified as mountainous and only 8% lies at altitudes and in terrain suitable for human habitation.
• South Tyrol is located on the southern side of the Alpine Divide and boasts 300 sunny days per year. The vegetation ranges from palm trees and vineyards in the sub-Mediterranean central valleys, to deciduous, then dense coniferous forests up to the barren regions of rock and eternal ice.
• Around a third of the area covered by the Dolomites lies in South Tyrol. The remaining two thirds are shared by the neighbouring provinces of Belluno and Trento.
• The driest part of South Tyrol is the western valley system of Val Venosta/Vinschgau, while the wettest is the twin valley, the Valle di Tures & Aurina/Tauferer Ahrntal in the east of the region.
• South Tyrol's highest mountain is the Ortles/Ortler (3,905 m - 12,812 ft); the nature reserves: the Stelvio/Stilfser Joch National Park, the Gruppo di reserve,the Sciliar Tessa/Texelgruppe nature -Catinaccio/Schlern-Rosengarten Nature Reserve, the Puez-Odle/Puez-Geisler Nature Reserve, the Fanes-Senes-Braies/Fanes-Sennes-Prags Nature Reserve, the Monte Corno/Truder Horn Nature Reserve, the Dolomiti di Sesto/Sexten Dolomites Nature Reserve and the Vedrette di Ries-Aurina/Rieserferner-Ahrn Nature Reserve.
• 44% of South Tyrol's surface area is covered by forest. Given the steepness of the terrain forests are difficult to access and they are seldom used commercially. Forests are in continual expansion.
• The main rivers: the Adige/Etsch, the Isarco/Eisack, and the Rienza/Rienz.

Economy & the environment:

• South Tyrol produces almost twice as much electricity than it needs. A large proportion of this energy is hydroelectric power.
• South Tyrol's central valleys form Europe's largest self-contained apple-growing region. With an annual production of almost a million tonnes it accounts for around 10% of the total EU harvest.
• 98% of South Tyrol's wines are produced in accordance with the strict Italian DOC regulations. Red and white wines are produced in almost equal quantities. Three grape varieties are native to South Tyrol, two of which are red (Vernatsch aka Schiava and Lagrein) and the world's favourite aromatic white grape, Gewürztraminer named after the village of Termeno/Tramin. Around 20 grape varieties are cultivated in a vineyard area totalling5,000 hectares.
• 75,000 milk cows are kept on 12,000, for the most part small, dairy farms. This averages out at 6.25 cows per dairy farmer.
• Traffic: the Brennero motorway from Innsbruck to Verona runs through South Tyrol, along with the Innsbruck - Verona mainline railway. All trains stop at Fortezza/Franzensfest, Bressanone/Brixen and Bolzano/Bozen. The Val Pusteria/Pustertal line branches off at Fortezza and at Bolzano a branch line connects the provincial capital with Merano/Meran and Malles/Mals in Val Venosta/Vinschgau. South Tyrol's only airport is located on the southern outskirts of Bolzano.

Leisure:

South Tyrol beckons with...

• 17,000 km of walking and hiking trails, 13,000 of them natural ones
• 600 km of valley cycle paths
• 400 castles, manor houses and noble country houses, of which 150 can be visited
• 80 museums

Superlatives:

• The world's very first aerial passenger cable car opened in Bolzano in 1908, connecting the town with the mountain woods and meadows of Colle/Kohlern.
• South Tyrol's eastern valleys form part of the world's largest interconnected ski area, the DolomitiSuperski group of resorts with 1,200 kilometres of downhill runs.
• Bolzano's archaeological museum is home to the world's oldest moist mummy preserved in a glacier for 5,300 years and dubbed "Ötzi" (after South Tyrol's Ötztal Alps).
• The smallest place in the Alps to enjoy the official title of "town" is Glorenza/Glurns with 800 inhabitants and an intact defensive town wall.
• The Alpe di Siusi/Seiser Alm is Europe's vastest expanse of Alpine pastureland straddling the 2,000 metre elevation line; measuring 52 km² it corresponds to 8,000 football pitches.
• The lake Lago di Caldaro/Kalterer See is the warmest bathing lake in the entire Alpine region.