August 14, 2026
In the Alps north of Verona lies the mainly German speaking South Tyrol province of Italy (1). The Austrian train climbed north through vineyards to the Brenner Pass (2) through the Alps and began descending into Austria. A hot afternoon awaited us upon arrival in Innsbruck.
Originally planning a hike up the Alps, the heat, humidity and poor air quality induced us to hop on a city tram to Lansersee, a local swimming spot. After riding through the city streets, the city tram (3) soon entered a single (meter guage) track, a forest and began climbing a hill south of the city. The forested hill is a recreation area, with various trailheads at the stations. A short walk for the station to Lansersee to cool off (4). Waiting for the return tram, we conversed with a German woman living in England, who loves the Berkshires in Massachusetts, where her sister lives. Telling her we were headed to Salzburg next, she said the "Salzburgers are all stuck up but that it wouldn't matter because you won't understand them."
We had a nice walk after dinner through the Innsbruck. The name refers to the bridge over the Inn river, where traders coming over the Brennet Pass from Venice could proceed across abd dien the river into Bavaria. The original bridge is gone, with a 1980s replacement where the original bridge once stood.
(1) To induce Italy to enter the First World War on the British/ French side, Italy was promised the South Tyrol Region of Austro-Hungary in the 1915 Treaty of London (a). The Italian government viewed the area as a potential threat, being in the south/Italian side of the Alps. The province is the wealthiest in Italy and remain mainly German (Bavarian dialect) speaking.
(a) Reassignment of territory to Italy without regard to the wishes of the German-speaking population violated Wilson's later 14 points, causing controversy during the 1919 Paris peace negotiations. Eventually, Realpolitik prevailed and Italy got the territory. In the 1920s Italian Duce Mussolini began a forced Italianization campaign, which stopped upon the Duce's alliance with the German Fuhrer toward the beginning of WW II (i).
(i) Unlike German minority populations elsewhere (e.g., the Sudeten Germans in Czechoslovakia and the Germans in Danzig/Polish Gdansk) that had been used by the Nazi regime as causus belli and were subsequently expelled after the Second World War, the ethnic German/Austrian population of South Tyrol remains today (*).
(*) The German-speaking provincial majority is about 2/3 of the current population, with Italian speakers being the majority only in the bigger cities, such as Bolzano/Bozen. The province is largely autonomous (90% of tax revenue remains in the province) and the population has the right to education, provincial government services, and to trial in German.
(2) The railway here offers shuttle services for truckers, who drive onto the trains, then sit in passenger cars while the train takes them through the summit tunnel, avoiding the steep grades on the roads. A much deeper and longer tunnel below the pass is under construction.
(3) Enquiring at the hotel desk whether we could just tap our credit card in and out, the hotel clerk clearly look puzzled, until it dawned on him what we were talking about. "Oh, no. This is Austria, we are old fashioned. You need to go to a machine and get a ticket before getting on." I struggled with the touch screen in the strong sun until my wife pointed out physical buttons nowhere near the screen.
(4) We expected a clear, spring fed Alpine lake like Alpsee in Bavaria where we had swim last summer. Instead, Lansersee was turbid and had large catfish swimming about, which did not faze the large local crowd. While cooling, a quick rinse afterwards was in order.
North of the Brenner Pass into Austria
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