Gais
Gais è un comune della Val Pusteria, in provincia di Bolzano, che sorge a circa 840 metri di quota all'imbocco della Valle di Ture...
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Gais at the Mouth of the Tures Valley, near Brunico
Gais lies in the Val Pusteria, a few kilometres north of Brunico, at the point where the Aurino valley narrows and opens onto the mouth of the Valle di Tures e Aurina. The main village, set at around 840 metres of altitude on a broad alluvial fan known as the Gaisinger Murkegel, is surrounded by cultivated fields, meadows and woods rising toward the first foothills of the Vedrette di Ries group. The municipal territory spans a wide range of altitude, from the 820-metre valley floor to over 3,100 metres at the peaks marking the eastern boundary, largely included within the Vedrette di Ries-Aurina Nature Park. This position along the route connecting the Val Pusteria to the Valli di Tures e Aurina, and onward toward the Giovo Pass, has made Gais over the centuries a place of transit and settlement, with a population that is predominantly German-speaking while Italian is also present in public services, following the bilingual model of the province of Bolzano.
Castel Neuhaus and the Historic Heritage
The most famous monument in Gais is Castel Neuhaus, also known as Casanova Castle, a fortress raised on a wooded spur between 1240 and 1245 by the Lords of Tures, whose choice of the name 'new house' asserted their control over the surrounding territory. After the Tures family died out, the castle passed to the Counts of Görz-Tirol and later to the Counts Künigl, who in the seventeenth century, faced with the decay of the medieval structure, had a baroque-style refuge built nearby, the so-called Pflegerhaus. The famous poet and minstrel Oswald von Wolkenstein stayed at the castle for some years, and for over three centuries the Bacher family of artists produced painters and sculptors there. Now in private hands, Castel Neuhaus today houses a restaurant and can be reached along a cultural trail winding through the woods, dotted with images and panels devoted to the historical figures linked to the stronghold, while a pilgrimage chapel was added in 1601.
Hamlets and Castles: Villa Ottone and the Other Villages
The municipality of Gais took its current form in 1928 through the union of the previously independent municipalities of Gais, Villa Ottone (Uttenheim), Riomolino (Mühlbach) and Montassilone (Tesselberg), to which the small hamlet of Lana di Gais (Lanebach) had already been added in 1850. Villa Ottone, the northernmost hamlet toward the mouth of the Valli di Tures e Aurina, still bears, on the rocks above the settlement, the ruins of Uttenheim Castle, a thirteenth-century fortification that belonged to the Lords of Tures and later to the ministerial Uttenheim family, whose administrators in 1427 included Oswald von Wolkenstein himself. The hamlet also houses the Stock residence of the Barons von Sternbach, with a historic archive, and the parish church dedicated to Saint Margaret, rebuilt after lightning destroyed the previous building. Riomolino and Montassilone keep a more compact rural layout, while Lana di Gais, set at over 1,500 metres on the opposite side of the valley, remains the smallest and most isolated hamlet, celebrated in a song by Oswald von Wolkenstein himself.
Farmsteads, Mountain Farming and Landscape
The agricultural landscape of Gais is shaped by the fertile alluvial fan known as the Gaisinger Murkegel, valuable farmland cultivated since ancient times, and by the farmsteads scattered across the slopes around the valley floor, particularly those of Lana di Gais, perched on a steep hillside opposite the main village. The rural economy of the municipality remains tied above all to mountain livestock farming, with dairy and meat production on traditional farmsteads, alongside the cultivation of berries and vegetables that many farms also sell directly. Traces of traditional fruit growing are not lacking either, with tall apple and other fruit trees scattered among meadows and farmsteads, following the extensive orchard model common across the valleys of South Tyrol. Many farmsteads today offer farm-holiday hospitality, allowing visitors to discover at close hand the work in the fields and stables, while the high-altitude huts around Lana di Gais bear witness to once particularly harsh living conditions, in a setting where mountain farming remains an integral part of Gais's identity.
Nature, Hiking and Experiences
The territory of Gais offers many opportunities to get close to nature, starting with the river park along the Aurino stream, a protected biotope home to aquatic bird species such as the kingfisher. Along its banks runs the 'Sentiero vivere l'Aurino,' a nature trail explaining the flora and fauna of the area, while the 'Sentiero della roggia' extends for about 5.5 kilometres along old irrigation channels dating back to the sixteenth century, still part of the rural landscape today. In summer, the natural lake of Gais, known as the Baggerlacke, is very popular, with chlorine-free water, an equipped meadow and a children's play area, reachable also by bicycle along the Val Pusteria cycle path. To the east, the municipal territory rises to the peaks of the Vedrette di Ries group, within the Vedrette di Ries-Aurina Nature Park, offering high-altitude hiking routes for those seeking more demanding views, while in winter Gais has an ice rink and sledding slopes for families.
Not to be missed
- Castel Neuhaus (Casanova Castle) and the cultural trail through the woods
- The ruins of Uttenheim Castle at Villa Ottone
- The Sentiero vivere l'Aurino along the Aurino river biotope
- A summer swim at the natural Baggerlacke lake
- The parish church of St. John the Evangelist, among the oldest in Tyrol
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