Residents of the Alto Adige region of Italy will tell you that you cannot claim to be true lovers of the mountains if you have not seen the Dolomites. For while every mountain landscape is beautiful in its own way, the Dolomites are like the precious stones of an old family ring — they have something extra. Perhaps its their position in the heart of Europe, or it may be the pink hues of their sunsets caused by the fact that they were once coral formations that rose up from the seabed 25 million years ago. Maybe it is the host of stories and history they have played witness to, invasions and exodus, as the portal to and from Austria. The colors of the Dolomites make it akin to an enchanted garden: the fresh, verdant meadows framed by the darker greens of the woods, the pink hue of the mountains against the white of the glaciers at their peaks and the sky that resembles a cut canvas with the sharp outline of the peaks against blue sky and white cotton-candy clouds.
Merano is a geographic anomaly. Predominantly German-speaking, it seems to belong to neighboring Austria, but is 70 miles inside Italy, a consequence of the redrawing of borders after World War I. Many street and shop signs are bilingual, but to Germans and Austrians, Merano is still Meran. The architecture of the region is decidedly Tyrolean, with wrought-iron balconies making way for classic wooden carved ones characteristic of the Austrian and Swiss alps, a change in shape of church bell-towers that is almost Byzantine, and food that leans towards Italy’s northern neighbors rather than the traditional Italian dishes.
Bisected by the Passirio River, which pours into the Adige, the city of 32,000 residents combines red-roofed arcaded buildings, historic churches and flower-embroidered parks. Dominating the riverfront promenade is the Kurbad built in 1914, which will open in September 2005, offering a full array of sulfur and radon baths, mudpacks, saunas and bathing pools.
Merano, which traces its history as a settlement some 2,000 years before Christ, is tucked into the intersection of four mountain valleys spilling down from lower Alpine ranges. Its protected location, about 1,000 feet above sea level and shielded from the north, east and west, has given Merano a climate mild enough to nurture vineyards as well as palm trees, oleander and fruit trees that blossom against a backdrop of snowy peaks.
Merano has been famous as far back as the1500s for its “milk cures” in the spring and “grape cures” in the fall for digestive disorders. These recuperative remedies kept a constant flow of tourism until the region, especially during the 1800s when “Sisi,” beloved empress of Austria, became enamored with these cures. Subsequently, Merano was ravaged by World War I and II and the tourism trade did not return until sometime in the 1960s. For me, the magic of Merano is the beauty of its historic piazza’s and pedestrian areas, including its caf