General overview
South Tyrol, North Tyrol, East Tyrol, Italian Tyrol... It's a bit tricky at first, but patience is the mother of all virtues, so let's get started! Central Tyrol covers a large part of the Central Eastern Alps, which roughly corresponds to the southern part of North Tyrol, East Tyrol and the northern part of South Tyrol. The Central Eastern Alps also include the Grisons Alps in Switzerland, the rest of the Austrian Alps and the Lombardy Alps in Italy. These massifs are mainly composed of gneiss, slate and granite. From west to east lie the Ötztal, Stubai (North and South Tyrol), Sarntal (South Tyrol), Tux, Kitzbühel (North Tyrol), Zillertal (North and South Tyrol) and Hohe Tauern (South and East Tyrol) massifs. These Alpine massifs are separated by wide U-shaped valleys (where it's generally a little colder than in the V-shaped valleys). As everywhere in the Alps, it's in these valleys that urban civilizations have flourished, and it's also here, of course, that the most densely populated areas are to be found. These include the Inn Valley, home to Innsbruck, the capital of the Austrian Tyrol, and the Alto Adige Valley on the Italian side, where Bozen-Bolzano is located. On either side of the central Eastern Alps are the Eastern Pre-Alps, made up of sedimentary rock, mainly sandstone. In Austria, the northern Inn valley (i.e. northern Tyrol) is part of the northern Eastern Prealps. From west to east, these include the Lechtal, Allgäu and Ammergau (Reutte region, also known as the Ausserfern), Karwendel, Brandenberg, Emperor and Lofer massifs. In Italy, the southern part of South Tyrol and Trentino extend over the southern eastern Pre-Alps, with the Non, Fiemme and Dolomite massifs, as well as part of the Vicentine Pre-Alps. The Trentino-Alto Adige region is home to the northern shores of Lake Garda, Italy's largest lake with a surface area of 370 km2.
Nord-Tyrol (or North Tyrol) covers 10,627 km2 on either side of the Inn valley and several tributary valleys. To the east of Innsbruck, the Tyrolean capital, lies the Unterland, with the districts of Schwaz, Kufstein and Kitzbühel. Contrary to its name, the Unterland is rather high-altitude, as it boasts some of the country's biggest ski resorts and numerous glaciers and peaks over 3,000 meters high. To the west of Innsbruck lies the Oberland, with the districts of Imst and Landeck. Finally, to the north-west of the Land lies the Ausserfern, corresponding to the district of Reutte, which is somewhat singular in its language and culture, more oriented towards the Swabian world (the historical region of south-west Germany) than Tyrolean.
East Tyrol is an exclave of the Austrian state of Tyrol. It occupies the southern Austrian part of the Central Alps line, and is a small mountainous territory of 2,019 km2, corresponding to a single district: Lienz, population 12,000. The other major towns are Sillian (pop. 2,000) and Matrei (pop. 5,000). The most densely populated areas are the valleys of the Drava (a tributary of the Danube like the Inn), its tributary the Isel, the Puster and the Defereggen. East Tyrol covers the Carinthian Alps and the Hohe Tauern, whose highest peak is the Grossglockner (3,798 m).
Trentino-Alto Adige. Also known as Trentino-Alto Adige in Italian, Trentino-Alto Adige in German and Trentino-Südtirol in Italian. Covering an area of 13,600 km2, this autonomous Italian region is divided into 15 community districts and has a population of over one million. Trentino-Alto Adige is divided into two so-called autonomous provinces, because they are the only ones in Italy with legislative power. Although Italian, most of the inhabitants are completely bilingual, and some of them speak mainly German, as this region was formerly Austrian (and therefore German-speaking) until the end of the First World War. This has obviously left its mark, especially as the geopolitical and linguistic situation has never been simple.
The two provinces are as follows:
The province of Bozen-Bolzano (also known as Alto Adige, South Tyrol or South Tyrol) is predominantly German-speaking (German dialect, Südtirolerisch), but with around a quarter of the population speaking Italian and a small minority still speaking Ladin (a Rhaeto-Romance dialect close to Romansh). To the west lies the Vinschgau (capital: Schlanders-Silandro), followed by the Burggrafenamt (Meran-Merano). In the center, from north to south, lie the Wipptal (Sterzing-Vipiteno), the Eisacktal (Brixen-Bressanone), the Salten-Schlern (whose community headquarters are in Bozen-Bolzano), Bozen-Bolzano and the Überetsch-Unterland (Neumarkt-Egna). To the east lies the great Pustertal (Bruneck-Brunico).
The predominantly Italian-speakingprovince of Trento (Trentino), whose 11 historic provinces are as follows: to the east, Ladino di Fassa, Primiero and Val di Fiemme in the Dolomites, Valsugana e Tesino in the Brenta valley. In the center, Alta Valsugana, Val d'Adige (with the city of Trento) and Val de Non. To the west, Val di Sole, Valle Giudicarie and Alto Garda e Ledro, on the coast of Lake Garda. A few German-speaking islands and a Ladin-speaking minority in Val di Fassa.
One region, two states, two countries, four territories
Travelling in the Tyrol also means experiencing the vagaries of history, encountering the evolution of several territories from the same province that have taken different paths. North Tyrol (the main part of the Austrian federal state of Tyrol) is the focal point of Tyrolean identity in Austria. Innsbruck resembles a small capital city, with several strong cultural features and identities. East Tyrol belongs to the same Land as North Tyrol, but is geographically separated from it. It is a small mountainous area, a paradise for skiing and mountaineering. Don't miss a visit to the superb Hohe Tauern National Park. As for South Tyrol (or Alto Adige), it was awarded to Italy after Austria's defeat in the First World War. Its identity is sometimes perceived as more Germanic than Italian, in response to the forced "Italianization" of the post-war period. Its inhabitants enjoy protected ethnic minority status, and the widespread use of the German language sometimes makes you forget you're in an Italian region. On the other hand, in Trentino, which belongs to the same administrative region as Alto Adige, the Latin Italian culture is more present and contrasts with the Germanic region. This is largely due to the fact that Trentino, originally an Italian region, was Austrian for a long time before being reunited with Italy. So, to get a better grasp of a Central Europe where Germanic and Latin cultures meet in the heart of the Alps, there's nothing like a tour of "the" Tyrols of Austria and Italy, North, East and South. The creation of the Tyrol-Haut-Adige-Trentin Euroregion, a European initiative for territorial cooperation, is a sign that these multicultural territories, formerly sources of tension, are now at the heart of European integration.
