Perca
Perca (in tedesco Percha) è un comune della Val Pusteria, in provincia di Bolzano, su un altopiano soleggiato ai margini orientali...
Actualizado el 17 julio 2026
Esta temporada · Julio · Verano
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La historia de Perca
Perca in the Val Pusteria, on the Outskirts of Brunico
Perca lies in the Val Pusteria, the great valley that runs from the Dolomites toward Austria, in a position that is tucked away yet convenient: just five kilometres east of Brunico, along the state road that climbs the valley toward San Candido and the eastern Tyrol. The village sits on a sunny plateau at the edge of the Brunico basin, at around 970 metres above sea level, oriented so as to enjoy long hours of light that favoured settlement here as far back as Roman times. The municipal territory, covering more than 30 square kilometres, stretches north-east into increasingly mountainous terrain, reaching the boundaries of the Vedrette di Ries-Aurina Nature Park. The population, just under two thousand, is overwhelmingly German-speaking, with Italian and Ladin minorities, and is spread across the main village and seven hamlets each bearing a double name, evidence of a bilingualism lived out daily.
Plan de Corones: a Gateway to the Slopes
At the foot of Perca lies one of the access points to the Plan de Corones ski area, known in German as Kronplatz, the rounded mountain that dominates the centre of the Val Pusteria and is shared by several municipalities in the area, including Brunico, Valdaora and San Vigilio di Marebbe: Perca is therefore not its sole owner, but one of its gateways. Since 2010 the village's railway station, on the Val Pusteria line, has stood alongside the valley station of the Ried cable car, which carries skiers straight up to the Plan de Corones slopes without the need for a car, a link that has boosted local winter tourism. In summer the same lift and the trails branching out from the village allow visitors to gain altitude and take in views of the Braies Dolomites and the Croda del Becco to the south-east, offering an alternative vantage point away from the mountain's busier main ski slopes.
Hamlets, Farmhouses and Rural Life
The municipality of Perca is made up of the main village and seven hamlets, each with an Italian and a German name: Nessano (Nasen) and Sopranessano (Aschbach), Montevila (Wielenberg), Vila di Sopra (Oberwielenbach) and Vila di Sotto (Unterwielenbach), Plata (Platten) and Rio Liccio (Litschbach). These are small clusters scattered across sunny slopes and terraces, where farmhouses of ancient origin, vegetable gardens and hay meadows still concentrate today, testifying to a mountain farming economy that has stayed alive alongside tourism. It is precisely from the timber of the surrounding woods that a solid craft tradition was born: Perca is known throughout the Val Pusteria for the production of rustic wooden furniture, an activity that stands alongside agriculture as a pillar of the local economy. Walking among the hamlets, visitors come across farmhouses with flower-decked balconies, barns blackened by time and small chapels, in a rural landscape that changes slowly despite its closeness to the Plan de Corones tourist hub.
Nature, the Cycling Path and the Landscape
The natural landmark of Perca is the earth pyramids in the hamlet of Plata, conical rock formations sculpted by erosion between 1,550 and 1,750 metres above sea level, each capped by a large boulder that has protected it from being washed away: they are among the most photographed phenomena in South Tyrol and can be reached with a short hike. To the north-east the municipal territory extends into the Vedrette di Ries-Aurina Nature Park, a high-mountain environment of glaciers, lakes and alpine pastures. Down in the valley, the Rienza river marks the floor of the Val Pusteria and is accompanied by the Val Pusteria cycling path, a flat, family-friendly route that crosses Perca, linking it to Brunico and the valley's other towns; from here, more demanding gravel roads also climb toward the Montassilone alp, popular with mountain bikers. It is a landscape that shifts within minutes from the cultivated valley floor to woods and high pastures.
History and Experiences
The origins of Perca date back at least to Roman times, attested by an uninscribed milestone kept in front of the parish church, but it was with the Bavarian colonisation of the middle Val Pusteria, between the 7th and 9th centuries, that the territory took on the shape and place names still in use today, with the area's first written mention around 1070-1080 as 'locus Welinberc'. In the following centuries the churches that still dot the landscape were built: the late-Gothic parish church of San Cassiano, with ribbed vaults and the coats of arms of Habsburg lands; the church of San Giacomo in Nessano; San Nicolò, recognisable by its pyramid-capped bell tower; and the small Lercher chapel with its grotesque decorations. Today this long history of farming and linguistic borderland coexists with an active tourism offer, made up of hikes among farmhouses and earth pyramids, cycling along the Rienza, and, in winter, skiing straight from the village up to the slopes of Plan de Corones.
Not to be missed
- The earth pyramids of Plata
- The Ried cable car up to Plan de Corones (Kronplatz)
- The parish church of San Cassiano with its late-Gothic vaults
- The Val Pusteria cycling path along the Rienza river
- A walk among the farmhouses of the Montevila and Vila hamlets
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