Eisack Valley (Valle Isarco)

Eisack Valley (Valle Isarco)

The valley of the Eisack river stretches from Brenner Pass southwards down to its confluence with the Adige near Bolzano. The upper valley north of Franzensfeste is known as Wipptal, while the lower parts belong to the Salten-Schlern administrative district. The valley is part of a major transport route across the Eastern Alps, traversed by the Autostrada A22 (part of the European route E45) and the parallel Brenner Railway line. Each of the three Isarco Valley cities, Bressanone/Brixen, Chiusa/Klausen and Vipiteno/Sterzing, has its own very special, long and storied history. Brixen has been shaped by its clerical status as an episcopal center since 960 and as an episcopal see (bishop’s seat) since 960 A.D. Vipiteno meanwhile was a mining town, a refuge for the Fuggers, a hub of trade, and a handling location for valuable raw materials from the surrounding mines. Chiusa, in turn, experienced its heyday in the fourteenth century as a city with market rights along the crucial Brenner route. Chiusa’s second bloom was as the City of Artists in the nineteenth century, after it became known that Dürer had already stopped here and immortalized his impressions. Each of the three cities has a town center dating from between the Middle Ages and the Baroque that ranks it among the most beautiful in the Alps . Each offers attractions, historical buildings and monuments – and is also ideal for hiking and likewise known for its culinary excellence.