South Tyrol

South Tyrol (Italian Alto Adige, Sudtirolo; Ladin Südtirol), officially the Autonomous Province of Bolzano - South Tyrol, is the northernmost province of Italy and, together with the Province of Trento, forms the autonomous region of Trentino-South Tyrol. Since the extended autonomy came into force in 1972, South Tyrol has enjoyed comprehensive self-government rights and is accordingly referred to as an "autonomous province" or "province". Situated in the middle of the Alps, the region has around 530,000 inhabitants, and its capital is Bolzano.

South Tyrol is one of the areas of Italy with a strong regional culture. This can be traced back to the Bavarian and Alpine Romance settlement as well as to the historically grown ties to the German language and culture area, especially to the northern neighbour Austria, to which it belonged de facto until 1918 until the dissolution of the double monarchy Austria-Hungary, and under international law until 1920. The European unification movement facilitates cross-border cooperation with the other parts of the historical region of Tyrol, which since the founding of the European Region Tyrol-South Tyrol-Trentino is at the beginning of an institutional interconnection.

In terms of linguistic-cultural differentiation, the population is currently composed of over 62 % German-speaking and about 23 % Italian-speaking South Tyroleans. Around 4 % of its population, mainly in the Dolomite region, belongs to the Ladin language group. Intra- and extra-European migration has led to a further diversification of the population composition, especially since the 1990s.

South Tyrol, which is largely rural, is one of the most prosperous regions in Italy and the European Union. Economically, the country, located on the Brenner transit route, was for a long time primarily agricultural. Since the second half of the 20th century, service sectors such as trade, transport and tourism have played a prominent role.

Location

South Tyrol is located entirely in the Alps. The country is both the northernmost and, with a total area of 7400 km², one of the largest provinces in Italy. It is crossed in a north-south direction by the important Brenner transit route, which connects Germany and Austria with Upper Italy. The nearest megacities are Munich about 180 km north of Bolzano and Milan about 200 km southwest.

South Tyrol lies on both the Italian-Austrian and the Italian-Swiss border. In the north and east, South Tyrol meets the Austrian provinces of Tyrol (North Tyrol, East Tyrol) and - on a small section - Salzburg. Since the division of Tyrol after the end of the First World War, the northern border has largely followed the main Alpine ridge. In the west, South Tyrol borders on the Swiss canton of Graubünden. Within Italy, it is surrounded in the southwest by the Lombard province of Sondrio, in the south by Trentino and in the southeast by the province of Belluno, which belongs to Veneto.

	Province of Tyrol (Austria) Province North Tyrol	Province of Salzburg (Austria)
Canton Grisons (Switzerland)		Province of Tyrol (Austria) Province East Tyrol
Lombardy Province of Sondrio	Trentino	Veneto Province of Belluno

South Tyrol (here the Unterland) connects north and south via the Brenner transit route.


The main ridge of the Alps (here in the area of the Pfossental) forms the northern border of South Tyrol.

History of names and terms

"South Tyrol" as a designation of a political administrative unit: South Tyrol was politically and legally separated from the larger Tyrolean context only as a direct consequence of the First World War: If Tyrol had been a closed part of Austria-Hungary until then, today's South Tyrol and Trentino (formerly Welschirol) were awarded to Italy with the peace treaty of 1919. In January 1927, the fascist administration founded the majority German-speaking province of Bolzano. With the First Statute of Autonomy of 1948, this province attained its present geographical extent, although it was still officially referred to as the Tyrolean Etschland. The name South Tyrol, which had been generally used for this area since the 1920s, was officially recognised for the first time with the Second Statute of Autonomy of 1972. Since then, the provincial administration has used the long form Autonomous Province of Bolzano - South Tyrol or the short form Land Südtirol as its own designation. The Italian equivalent is Provincia autonoma di Bolzano - Alto Adige, the Ladin Provincia Autonoma de Balsan - South Tyrol (in Val Badia) or Provincia Autonoma de Bulsan - South Tyrol (in Val Gardena).

"South Tyrol" as a topographical designation: the name "Südtirol" or its equivalents in other languages (South Tyrol or Tirol in English, Tyrol du Sud in French) already found widespread use in the 19th century, but could refer to various southern areas of the County of Tyrol, which also included the modern South Tyrol only partially or not at all. In the broadest sense, "South Tyrol" was used to refer to all Tyrolean territories south of the main ridge of the Alps, which were further subdivided into "German South Tyrol" and "Welsh South Tyrol" (or "Welschtirol") on the basis of linguistic majorities. After the annexation of the southern part of Tyrol by Italy, a change in meaning took place in the 1920s, whereby "South Tyrol" became a synonym for the "Province of Bolzano", which was mainly populated by German speakers.

Origin and use of the Italian terms "Alto Adige" and "Sudtirolo": The Italian designation Alto Adige (in German "Oberetsch" or "Hochetsch") for the German-speaking parts of Tyrol south of the watershed was coined and spread at the beginning of the 20th century in the course of irredentism. The name was taken from the Département Haut-Adige (Dipartimento dell'Alto Adige) in the Napoleonic Kingdom of Italy, which existed from 1810 to 1813 and largely comprised what is now Trentino as well as some adjacent areas, including the southern part of today's South Tyrol with the city of Bolzano. In the second half of the 20th century, the Italian alternative designation Sudtirolo emerged and is becoming increasingly widespread.

Map of The Valleys of Tirol from 1874, in which the present-day South Tyrol and East Tyrol are roughly referred to as South Tirol; the Italian-speaking part of the country appears as Wälsch- or Italian Tirol or the Trentino.