Words Tim Heap
My ignorance flared when an email landed in my inbox towards the end of last year, inviting me on a press trip to explore the South Tyrol region in winter. My limited brain cells started sending messages to each other trying to pin South Tyrol to a specific country, but came up short, and in the end, I turned to Google to fill in the blank.
It turns out that South Tyrol is a wealthy province in the mountains of north-west Italy, on the Austrian border. It only covers an area around double the size of Kent, with a population of around half a million, but within that there’s a host of options for holidaymakers and adventurers, with the blend of Italian and Austrian cultures giving rise to some quirks. When I think about it, it’s fitting that this blend should happen among the mighty peaks of the Dolomites, formed themselves by two tectonic plates butting up against each other and jostling for dominance.