Italy: you say Bozen, I say Bolzano

I was happy to finally get back to Bolzano (Bozen in German), a city where we spent some time many years ago and completely loved it. At the time we were living in Italy and found Bolzano’s German-ness to be novel and charming; this time around it was the Italian side we were more interested in. Although the locals supposedly prefer German, the city feels almost perfectly bilingual, and almost every conversation I had involved exchanges in both Italian and German.

Luckily it wasn’t too hard to find enough Italian details in Bolzano to completely delight me. Bolzano’s cafes serve real espresso and delicious aperitivi. The city’s center contains many winding, cobblestoned pedestrian streets teaming with life. The cuisine in most restaurants is heavily Austrian-leaning, but we had an amazing Italian dinner at Hostaria Argentieri. We took it as a good sign that the only menu available was in handwritten Italian, and our instincts were dead on.

This time we stayed at the Parkhotel Laurin, a grand old-timey hotel with a gorgeous private park and an elevator that contains a sofa. The location was great for exploring Bolzano on foot, and the rooms were clean and modern. Previously we’ve stayed at Hotel Figl, which I can also highly recommend: central, good value, clean, good.

The views of the vineyards and Dolomites surrounding Bolzano are gorgeous, and there are many nice hikes that you can start right from the city. We skipped him this time, but I also recommend a visit to Ötzi. That is, if you can tear yourself away from people-watching as you sip your prosecco at an outdoor cafe.