Predoi
Predoi, in tedesco Prettau, è il comune più a nord d'Italia, posto in fondo alla Valle Aurina, l'ultima valle laterale della Val P...
更新于 17 七月 2026
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故事
Predoi 的故事
Predoi, Italy's Northernmost Municipality in the Aurina Valley
Predoi (Prettau in German) is Italy's northernmost municipality, set at the head of the Aurina Valley (Ahrntal), the last side valley off the Val Pusteria, in the province of Bolzano/South Tyrol. The municipal territory, covering roughly 86 square kilometres between 1,325 and 3,499 metres of altitude, borders Austrian East Tyrol and, via the Forcella del Picco pass, the Salzburg region as well. The village, home to just over five hundred residents, the vast majority German-speaking, comprises the main settlement and several hamlets, among them Casere (Kasern), near the sources of the Aurino river, which claims the title of northernmost inhabited centre in the Italian peninsula. Surrounded by peaks approaching three thousand five hundred metres and by glaciers, Predoi keeps an air of alpine remoteness that makes it one of the most authentic destinations in all of South Tyrol.
The Predoi Copper Mine and the South Tyrol Museum of Mining
For centuries the economy of Predoi was tied to copper mining, an activity first documented in writing in 1426, when Archduke Frederick IV of Habsburg ordered two cannons cast from copper extracted in the local galleries; a bronze axe found in the 19th century suggests the subsoil may already have been worked in prehistoric times. The mine's period of greatest splendour dates back roughly six hundred years, when Predoi's copper was prized for its exceptional malleability; extraction ceased in 1893, after a further attempt at revival between 1957 and 1971. Today the old Sant'Ignazio gallery houses the Predoi site of the South Tyrol Museum of Mining: a small train carries visitors more than a kilometre into the heart of the mountain, through galleries, tools and traces of centuries of mining work, while in the same gallery a biological process based on bacteria still produces small amounts of copper today, blending history with experimentation.
The Predoi Climate Centre and Speleotherapy
Inside the same mountain, 1.1 kilometres from the entrance and from daylight, lies the Predoi Climate Centre, opened in 2003 and regarded as Italy's first speleotherapy centre. The disused mine gallery offers a very particular microclimate, with a constant temperature of around nine degrees, relative humidity close to 95 percent and a total absence of dust, pollen and allergens: conditions that have proven beneficial for people suffering from respiratory conditions such as bronchial asthma, chronic bronchitis, pulmonary emphysema and seasonal allergies. Therapeutic stays typically involve around two hours a day inside the gallery, beginning with breathing and relaxation exercises followed by a period of rest, lying down, reading or listening to music, under specialist medical supervision. The centre, run alongside the Mining Museum, is a unique feature that links the valley's mining history to a modern offer of wellbeing and care.
The Rieserferner-Ahrn Nature Park and the Border Peaks
Around 70 percent of the municipal territory of Predoi lies within the Rieserferner-Ahrn Nature Park, established in 1988 and covering more than 31,000 hectares across six municipalities in South Tyrol. The park borders directly onto the Hohe Tauern National Park in Austria, together forming one of the largest contiguous protected areas in Europe, with glaciers, coniferous forests and high-altitude pastures home to golden eagles, chamois and marmots. The territory of Predoi also holds Vetta d'Italia, or Klockerkarkopf, at 2,912 metres, long indicated as the northernmost point of the Italian peninsula, even though the strictly northernmost position belongs to the nearby Testa Gemella Occidentale, a few hundred metres further on. The park's information point at Casere di Predoi is the gateway to a network of trails climbing toward the glaciers and high-altitude refuges, a destination for hikers and mountaineers.
History, Bilingualism and Traditions of a Border Village
The history of Predoi remains deeply marked by centuries of mining activity, which shaped the settlement and drew generations of skilled workers to the valley, as well as by its character as an Alpine community that is predominantly German-speaking, with a very small Italian minority. Traces of this past survive in the late Gothic Parish Church of St Valentine, built in 1489, and in the Chapel of the Holy Spirit, consecrated in 1455 by Cardinal Nicholas of Cusa. With the decline of mining, the community has kept alive older craft traditions such as bobbin lace-making and the carving of wooden masks, still practised and passed down today. In winter the valley floor and high-altitude pastures turn into terrain for cross-country skiing and snowshoe hikes, while in summer the valley's mountain huts, reached on foot through woods and alpine meadows, offer local cheeses and dairy products, rounding out a tourist offer that combines nature, mining history and mountain culture.
Not to be missed
- South Tyrol Museum of Mining - Predoi site, with the mine train in the Sant'Ignazio gallery
- Predoi Climate Centre, Italy's first speleotherapy centre
- A hike to Vetta d'Italia (Klockerkarkopf), historically the country's northernmost point
- Trails and glaciers of the Rieserferner-Ahrn Nature Park from the Casere information point
- The Parish Church of St Valentine and the Chapel of the Holy Spirit in Predoi
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Predoi 的景点
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