General overview
South Tyrol, North Tyrol, East Tyrol, Italian Tyrol... It's a bit complicated at first to find your way around, but patience is the mother of all virtues, so let's go! The center of Tyrol extends over a large part of the central Eastern Alps, which corresponds roughly to the southern part of North Tyrol, to the Eastern Tyrol and also to the north of South Tyrol. The central eastern Alps also include the Graubünden Alps in Switzerland, the rest of the Austrian Alps, as well as the Lombardy Alps in Italy. They are massifs made up mainly of gneiss, slate and granite rocks. From west to east the massifs of Ötztal, Stubai (North Tyrol and South Tyrol), Sarntal (South Tyrol), Tux, Kitzbühel (North Tyrol), Zillertal (North Tyrol and South Tyrol), and Hohe Tauern (South Tyrol and East Tyrol) extend. These alpine massifs are separated by wide U-shaped valleys (where it is generally a little colder than in V-shaped valleys). As everywhere in the Alps, it is in the valleys that urban civilizations have flourished, and it is also there, of course, that there are the most inhabited areas. The Inn Valley, where Innsbruck, the capital of the Austrian Tyrol, is located, and the Alto Adige Valley on the Italian side, where the city of Bozen-Bolzano is located, are two examples. On both sides of the central eastern Alps rise the eastern Pre-Alps, made up of sedimentary rocks, mainly of sandstone type. In Austria, the northern part of the Inn valley (i.e. the northern part of North Tyrol) is part of the northern Eastern Pre-Alps. The Lechtal, Allgäu and Ammergau (Reutte region, also called Ausserfern), Karwendel, Brandenberg, Emperor and Lofer massifs are distributed from west to east. In Italy, the southern part of South Tyrol and Trentino extend over the southern eastern pre-Alps, with the Non, Fiemme and Dolomite massifs as well as parts of the Vicentine pre-Alps. The region of Trentino Alto Adige is home to the northern shores of Lake Garda, the largest lake in Italy with an area of 370 km2.
North Tyrol covers 10,627 km2 on both sides of the Inn valley and several tributary valleys. To the east of Innsbruck, the Tyrolean capital, lies the Unterland, with the districts of Schwaz, Kufstein and Kitzbühel. Contrary to its name, the Unterland is rather high in altitude, as it has some of the largest ski resorts in the country and many glaciers and peaks that reach over 3,000 meters. To the west of Innsbruck lies the Oberland (the "high country"), with the districts of Imst and Landeck. Finally, in the northwest of the state is the Ausserfern, which corresponds to the district of Reutte, which is a little unusual in terms of its language and culture, more oriented towards the Swabian world (the historical region of southwestern Germany) than the Tyrolean one.
East Tyrol is an exclave of the Austrian state of Tyrol. It occupies the southern Austrian part of the Central Alps line and is a small mountainous territory of 2,019 km2 that corresponds to a single district: that of Lienz, 12,000 inhabitants. The other important towns are Sillian (2,000 inhabitants) and Mattrei (5,000 inhabitants). The most populated areas are the valleys of the Drava (a tributary of the Danube like the Inn), the Isel its tributary, the Puster and the Defereggen. East Tyrol extends over the Carinthian Alps and the Hohe Tauern, whose highest point is the Grossglockner (3,798 m).
Trentino-Alto Adige. It is also called Trentino-Alto Adige, in Italian Trentino-Alto Adige and in German Trentino-Südtirol, which contributes to the possible general confusion. Covering 13,600 km2, this autonomous region of Italy is now divided into 15 community districts and has a population of over one million. Trentino-Alto Adige is divided into two so-called autonomous provinces, because they are the only ones in Italy with legislative power. Although Italian, most of the inhabitants are completely bilingual and some of them speak mostly German, because this region was formerly Austrian (and therefore German-speaking) until the end of the First World War. This obviously leaves a lot of traces, especially since the geopolitical and linguistic situation has never been simple.
The two provinces are as follows:
The province of Bozen-Bolzano (also called Alto Adige, South Tyrol or South Tyrol) is predominantly German-speaking (German dialect, Südtirolerisch) but with still about a quarter of the population being Italian-speaking and a small minority still speaking Ladin. In the west, there is the Vinschgau (capital: Schlanders-Silandro), then the Burggrafenamt (Meran-Merano). In the center, the Wipptal (Sterzing-Vipiteno), the Eisacktal (Brixen-Bressanone), the Salten-Schlern (with the seat of the community in Bozen-Bolzano), Bozen-Bolzano and the Überetsch-Unterland (Neumarkt-Egna) extend from north to south. In the east lies the great Pustertal (Bruneck-Brunico)
The province of Trento (Trentino), with a majority of Italian speakers, has 11 historical provinces: in the east, Ladino di Fassa, Primiero and Val di Fiemme in the Dolomites, Valsugana e Tesino in the Brenta Valley. In the center, the Alta Valsugana, the Val d'Adige (with the city of Trento) and the Val di Non. In the west, the Val di Sole, the Valle Giudicarie and the Alto Garda e Ledro, on the coast of Lake Garda. There are a few German-speaking islands and a Ladin-speaking minority in the Val di Fassa.
One region, two states, two countries, four territories
Traveling in the Tyrol is also experiencing the hazards of history, going to meet the evolution of several territories from the same province that have experienced different paths. North Tyrol (the main part of the Austrian federal state of Tyrol) is the central point of Tyrolean identity in Austria. Innsbruck resembles a small capital city with several strong cultural and identity characteristics. East Tyrol belongs to the same state as North Tyrol, but is geographically separated from it. It is a small mountainous area, a paradise for skiing and mountaineering. The beautiful Hohe Tauern National Park is a must-see. As for South Tyrol (or Alto Adige), it was assigned to Italy after the Austrian defeat in the First World War. It can sometimes be perceived as having a more Germanic than Italian identity, in response to the forced "Italianization" of the post-war period. Its inhabitants enjoy a protected status of ethnic minority and the widespread use of the German language sometimes makes one forget that one is in an Italian region. In contrast, in Trentino, which is associated with the same administrative region as South Tyrol, the Latin Italian culture is more present and contrasts with the Germanic region. This is largely due to the fact that Trentino, originally an Italian region, was Austrian for a long time before being reunited with Italy. Thus, to better understand a central Europe where Germanic and Latin cultures meet in the heart of the Alps, there is nothing like a tour in "the" Tyrols of Austria and Italy, North, East and South. The creation of the Tyrol-High Adige-Trentin Euroregion, a European initiative of territorial cooperation, is the sign that in Europe these multicultural territories, formerly sources of tension, are today at the center of European integration.
