Walking around Bolzano & Churches of Bolzano – The Delightful Dolomites, Part 5

This post is a continuation of a series documenting our travels to a small part of the Dolomites in Italy in the European summer of 2023. For 3 days we were based in the city of Bolzano/ Bozen in the foothills of the dolomites & used it as a base to day trip to the beautiful places in the vicinity. We had seen the castle of Runkelstein close to Bolzano ( A walk to Runkelstein Castle on a beautiful evening in Bolzano – The Delightful Dolomites, Part 2 ), taken the cable car up to the resort town of Soprabolzano/ Oberbozen and spent a full day hiking there ( A day spent hiking in Soprabolzano – The Delightful Dolomites, Part 3 ) & taken a day trip to the beautiful Lake Carezza / Karersee and take the oldest cable car to Colle for a memorable lunch ( A beautiful morning at Karersee and a great lunch at Colle – The Delightful Dolomites, Part 4 ).

What we hadn’t done ( out of choice) was spend much time in the city of Bolzano itself. While researching about the trip we had seen that Bolzano was a great base for day tripping but didn’t offer much itself. There was the famous preserved 5000 year old Otzi , the oldest fully preserved human discovered high in the Alps between Austria and Italy in 1991 that was displayed in a museum here (South Tyrol archeological museum). We didn’t have much interest in standing in line to see a mummified human – So we skipped the museum altogether.

The closest we got to Otzi was seeing the museum from outside on an early morning walk

The other places of interest in Bolzano apart from the predictably pretty cobblestoned streets of the old town itself were the churches, namely the Cathedral / Duomo in Bolzano which was reconstructed after it was flattened by the allied bombs in WW II ( A side effect of being too close to the train station in those times) and the preserved Dominican Church from the 13th century which had original painted frescoes from that time. While not being religious at all , I enjoy visiting these beautiful churches as they are beautiful architecturally and the symmetrical, decorated interiors are a photographers delight. (Curiously the same can be said of the beautiful temples back home but almost all won’t allow a camera inside which always flabbergasts me!).

The glazed tiled roof of the Bolzano Cathedral is unlike those found elsewhere in Italy

So we visited these Churches on the evening we returned from our hikes in Oberbozen. Even though we were tired after a day of hiking I always have energy left for photographing churches. So we went inside the Cathedral which is free to visit and were greeted by the by now familiar Gothic Arches and pillars that are the trademark of most cathedrals in Europe. As I have found everywhere in Europe there were only a handful of people inside while the square outside was teeming with tourists.

The Bolzano Cathedral on a beautiful summer evening

The symmetric Gothic interiors of the Duomo of Bolzano

We went around the church and saw the reconstructed Baroque altar which was cordoned off , the sandstone pulpit from 1500s which was intricately carved, the baroque styled altars which were placed behind the pulpit and remnants of the original frescoes which have been retained where possible. While obviously not as impressive as the huge and majestic Cathedrals in the bigger Italian Cities the Bolzano Cathedral had a unique charm and we walked out after sitting in the pews for a few minutes as we always do.

The cordoned off Baroque Altar at the Bolzano Cathedral

The intricately carved pulpit from the 1500s

The view of the church organ and the pews from near the altar

The baroque styled smaller altars in the Cathedral

We then visited the Dominican Church which was a couple of blocks away. This too is free to enter and to my utter surprise had no one inside. While this structure was damaged by the bombs it was just repaired and is the oldest church in Bolzano. The church has beautiful painted and decorated ceiling near the altar which is in stark contrast to its relatively plain roof elsewhere.

The 13th century Dominican Church in Bolzano

The painted decorated ceiling near the altar

Plain Gothic arches and pillars in the rest of the Church

The main attraction here is the Chapel of St John which has ceiling to floor frescoes from the 1300s. While most frescoes are incomplete due to the damage in WW II the restored chapel still has an eerie beauty to it with painted stars on the ceiling and religious frescoes all around – the most interesting to me was a photo of a horseman of the apocalypse chasing down some people- morbid art at it’s best!

The colourful Chapel of St John

Horseman of the Apocalypse chasing down people

Stars painted on the ceiling give it an appearance of the night sky overhead

The Floor to ceiling frescos are unique and a must see

We pressed the button which switches on a timed light to enjoy the frescoes a few times (it’s free!) before returning to the main church to do our routine before returning back to the hotel.

The organ and gothic roof of the Dominican Church Bolzano

Those were the only interiors we visited in the city of Bolzano. We explored the rest of the city only in the early morning or late in the evening as during the day the narrow streets of Old town  can get crowded and more importantly there were always better places around to enjoy. This was especially true for the peak summer months when we were visiting.

Our hotel was very close to the market square Piazza Erbe which has the 17th century statue of Neptune. Even though we passed through here multiple times every day it was always so crowded that I missed the statue altogether on day 1. So I made it a point to got to see the square early morning before the Markets started or at night after the markets closed down for the day to actually see and photograph the square and the Neptune statue.

The beautiful location of our hotel Goldenstern Townhouse in Bolzano

Early morning at the Piazza Erie in Bolzano

The Neptune statue in Piazza Erbe

Visiting the statue without a crowd in front of it

Piazza Erbe wears a deserted look at night after the markets close for the day

The Neptune Fountain at night

We used our final early morning in Bolzano to walk across the river on the beautiful bridge called the Ponte Talvera which has views over the river and the huge park along it. I wanted to see the contentious Victory Monument erected on the orders of Mussolini in 1928 when the area was annexed by Italy from Austria after WW I. It is an arch built dedicated to the Martyrs of WW I and has been at the centre of disputes and there have even been attempts to blow it up. We had never been to that part of the city in our three days and I wanted to see the controversial arch before we left.

A pretty corner in the old town of Bolzano

Morning walk across the river on the Ponte Talvera

View of the public park along the river that we had gone to on Day 1

The controversial Victory Monument in Bolzano

Had to see personally what the fuss was all about – At the Victory Monument , Bolzano

The beautiful views from the Ponte Talvera , Bolzano

The Museum of Archeology in Bolzano on the right will a huge banner with it’s star – Otzi

Just another street in Bolzano on way to the Victory Monument

The main square in Bolzano is Piazza Walther / Waltherplatz which is near the cathedral and has a statue of the poet Walther von der Vogelweide in the centre. This is a recent square built in the early 1800s on a vineyard.  We passed through Waltherplatz many times but only stopped to see the square only twice, once early morning and once after dark to see it lit up. The rest of the times it was too crowded for our taste.

Seeing the square and the cathedral lit up is a thing I always have on my list in every European city/ town/ village I visit. While the lighting was not as good as I expected, a lit up European old town is always a pretty sight and a joy to photograph.

An empty Piazza Walther at dawn on an overcast day

Piazza Walther through a floral display at one end on a sunny afternoon

Piazza Walther at Dusk

Duomo Bolzano at Dusk

Statue of the Poet Walther von der Vogelweide

The cafes around Waltherplatz start lighting up

Dusk becomes night as the lights take over

The tower of the Duomo lit up at night

The front of the cathedral of Bolzano at night

The cathedral lights are very understated in Bolzano

The view of the cathedral from the Dominican church square

Beautifully lit streets of Bolzano after dark

We used to pass the Via dei Portici which was the only street in 12th century Bolzano and had sheltered arcades which used to shelter the merchants selling their goods here from sun and rain. Today its the main shopping street of Bolzano and held nothing of interest for us except the architecture and the narrow passages(passagios) which looked like dead ends but opened into the adjacent streets under the buildings.

The Via del Portici

Via del Portici before it gets taken over by the mid day crowds

Luxury stores where there were street vendors in the 13th century

A lit up Via del Portici at night

Passages leading away from the Via del Portici leading to streets parallel to it

Only window shopping for us at the Via Del Portici

Even our hotel which is a restored townhouse was beautifully lit up after dark. The staircase, the common areas of the Goldenstern Townhouse were all very tastefully lit up. It had been a great place to stay in Bolzano.

The staircase leading up to our rooms

The main reception area looks so pretty under the chandelier

The common sitting area that we never used

The board games and chess room with original faded frescos on the walls

We had enjoyed a great 3 days in and around Bolzano but it was time for us to move to our next destination the pretty little village of Lajen / Laion which would be our base in the middle of the Dolomites. We enjoyed our final breakfast at the Goldenstern Townhouse and carried our luggage to the station stopping to take photos at the the Palazzo Provinciale , the seat of the local government and the Frog fountain in the park in front of it. We had passed both of these every day but never stopped.

Enjoying my last cup of tea at Bolzano

In front of the Palazzo Provinciale

The Palazzo Provinciale on a previous sunny day

The frog fountain early in the morning

The Alcide Berloffa park near the station

We would reach the station well in time for our train to Klausen / Chiusa which was a short train ride away and reach Laion via a connecting bus. I was very worried about this connection while planning the trip since there was only one bus per hour. All my worries were unfounded as the bus started only 10-15 minutes after the train from Bolzano reached Klausen & the way to the bus station was well marked so we got on the bus well in time.

The Bolzano railway station on our way out of Bolzano

We reached the small village of Lajen after winding our way up the mountains for half an hour. Our Hotel Andechserhof which was just besides the main bus stop for Lajen and we walked to it. We didn’t expect to get a room since we were well before check in time , but lo and behold they gave us our room early. That was a pleasant surprise!

Our room at the Hotel Andechserhof in Laion

The village of Laion from our hotel room balcony

It was an overcast day in the Dolomites but it was still dry & we wanted to make the most of it. We had lots of activities planned here but whether we would have the rain gods on our side for that is topic for another post.

Some other time, Some other day.

Till then,

Ciao!