History History

Archaeologists have found traces of campsites that suggest that nomadic hunter-gatherer populations frequented the Tyrol and moved along with the game herds in the valleys and mountains. A major chance discovery was made in September 1991 at an altitude of 3,210 meters in the Val Senales, near the Mount Similaun glacier, on the border between Italy and Austria. Helmut and Erika Simon, who were hiking there, saw a body stuck in the ice and raised the alarm: the scientists quickly understood that it was not a simple mountaineer who had had bad luck, because a carbon 14 dating indicated that the person lived 5,000 years ago, that is to say around 3200 BC. (Neolithic)!

It is the glacier that allowed to preserve and mummify not only the body of this man but also some of his accessories: shoes made of deerskin and bearskin, backpack (hood made of hazel and bark), bow made of yew and arrows, axe with a polished copper blade, medicine kit (yes, yes, with birch polypores for medicinal use), lighter (again a mushroom, Fumes fomentarius, known for its combustible properties), cloak made of vegetable fibers.. Called Ötzi because he was found in the Ötztal Alps, a superb museum, the Museo Archeologico Dell' Alto Adige, very well documented, has been entirely dedicated to him in the city of Bolzano. There you can see the original accessories, the real body of this ice man which rests in a special cold room, and learn more about what is considered the first proven murder in our history... we'll let you discover it! Archaeologists have also found in several areas (Merano, Termeno, Val Venosta) steles on which are engraved anthropomorphic figures, sometimes armed and dated to the same prehistoric period. During the Iron Age (1st millennium B.C.), the Tyrol was occupied by the Rhetians, a people composed of several tribes who probably occupied the central Alps. The Fritzens-Sanzeno culture, which flourished from the 6th to the 1st century BC, owes its prosperity to its position on the amber route between northern Europe and the Mediterranean. Its name derives from the localities of Fritzens (Inn Valley) and Sanzeno (Trentino), where excavations carried out at the beginning of the 20th century identified this culture.

In 15 BC, Rhetia, a province of the Roman Empire, was conquered by Tiberius (the second Roman emperor) and Drusus (Tiberius' brother) and became the province of Rhetia-Vindelicia (the Vindelicans being the inhabitants of Bavaria). Because of its strategic position near the border with the Germanic peoples, Rhaetia was strengthened militarily, in particular to ensure its connection with the rest of the Roman Empire. For better orientation, this region corresponds today to the canton of Graubünden, the Valais, the Tyrol, southern Bavaria, eastern Württemberg and northern Lombardy. In 46 AD, a new road was opened, the Via Claudia Augusta, which connected the Po Valley to the Danube through the province of Rhetia. In the following century, another road was built to go up the Isarco valley and to cross the Brennero pass. In the third century, the region was repeatedly exposed to the attacks of the Alamanni, a group of Germanic tribes defeated in 496 by Clovis. A period of relative calm followed, interrupted in the^5th century when the invasions resumed: the Vandals and the Alans fled before the arrival of the Huns and settled in Rhetia. In 476, the Western Roman Empire finally fell to the Ostrogoths. The region of Trentino Alto Adige was part of Cisalpine Gaul (because it was below the Alps, as opposed to transalpine) during the Roman domination.

The Bajuvares, a people originating from the Bavarian territories, took over Rhetia in the 6th century and the barbarian invasions continued for several centuries. Conflicts broke out with the Lombards, another Germanic people who had founded the duchy of Trento. Bajuvares and Lombards were then defeated by Charlemagne in 774 and their possessions were annexed to the Frankish kingdom. In 800, Charlemagne was crowned emperor by the Pope. The Treaty of Verdun (843), which led to the disintegration of the Carolingian Empire in the 9th century, annexed the present South Tyrol to the Duchy of Trento. The rest of the territory belonged to the dukes of Bavaria who chose to organize it into counties and principalities, which were themselves managed by prince-bishops who had won over the imperial cause.

The county of Tyrol was founded in the early 12th century and was then part of the Holy Roman Empire. The name Tyrol comes from the name of a castle located near the beautiful town of Merano in Italy, the castle of Tirolo. Quite soon, Tyrol came into conflict with the neighboring territories, and in particular with the Counts of Appiano. The Count of Tyrol Albert III managed to impose himself, which allowed him to extend his domination to Bressanone and Trento.

In 1273, Rudolf I of Habsburg (also known as Rudolf IV of Habsburg) was elected emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, King of the Romans. He was the first member of the powerful Habsburg dynasty to ascend the throne. The Habsburgs ruled Tyrol until 1918. In 1282, Rudolf I of Habsburg granted the independence of the Tyrol to Meinhard II and the Tyrol became an autonomous territory within the Holy Roman Empire. In 1363, the last descendant of the dynasty, Margaret Maultasche, bequeathed the Tyrol to Rudolf IV of Habsburg, who, among other things, transferred the capital from Merano to Innsbruck in 1420. A few decades later, in 1508, Maximilian I (or Maximilian of Austria), son of Emperor Frederick III, was appointed Emperor. He recovered the county of Tyrol in 1490 and then united it to the imperial crown. He then governed a very large territory that included Austria, the duchies of Tyrol, Goritz and the Burgundian states (following his marriage to the sole heiress Mary of Burgundy). During his reign and until the seventeenth century, the heritage and authority of the Habsburgs were strengthened

However, the 16th century was marked by popular uprisings related to the Lutheran Reformation. From 1524 to 1525, a peasant rebellion (called the Peasants' War or the Revolt of the Rusty) took place for a popular and Lutheran republic, led by Michael Gaismair. It was severely repressed in blood and about 100,000 peasants died (tortured, burned at the stake, etc.) throughout the Holy Roman Empire.

Faced with the Protestant Reformation, the Catholic Church undertook a counter-reformation in order to re-establish Christian unity and bring back the greatest number of faithful. Let us recall that Martin Luther had published his 95 reformist theses in 1517. In December 1545, the cathedral of the city of Trent in the Tyrol hosted the first council, the Council of Trent, which lasted until 1563 (with a few interruptions) and included several dozen members of the clergy who debated and pronounced on many aspects of the Church (heresies, church union, reformation of the clergy, faith, etc.). The 18 years of the Council brought about a real economic and cultural impetus in Trent. The city of Bolzano also experienced a prosperous period due to its economic and commercial development, thanks in particular to the regent of the Tyrol, Claude de Medici.

Following the defeat of the Russian and Austrian forces at the battle of Austerlitz against the forces of the first French emperor Napoleon Bonaparte (Napoleon I) in December 1805, Austria was forced to cede the Tyrol to Bavaria (Treaty of Presburg), then allied with the French. Bavaria then tried to enlist the Tyroleans to fight against Austria, which provoked a discontent of the people who created a movement of resistance and rose up against it. Accompanied by 500 men, Andreas Hofer was the instigator of the Tyrolean rebellion, which succeeded in pushing back the French and Bavarian allies at Fortezza, north of Bressanone.

If every nation has its national hero, Tyrol has Andreas Hofer. He is one of the most prominent figures of pan-Tyrolean nationalism, because of the fight he led against the French invader! Born in 1767 in Sankt Leonhard in Passeier (San Leonardo in Passiria) in South Tyrol, he was an innkeeper and later became a wine merchant, bringing his wines from Italy to the Tyrol. It was during the French victory over Austria and the subsequent annexation of the Tyrol by Bavaria (a state allied with France) in 1805 that he became a militiaman and took the lead in the resistance to the invader. The resistance, which was initially underground, was organized and later supported by Emperor Franz II, before breaking out into an insurrection in 1809. Andreas Hofer was an efficient warlord with an elaborate strategic sense. His army crushed the Bavarian occupying forces at Sterzing-Vitipeno, then drove the occupiers out of Innsbruck. With the occupation of Innsbruck, Hofer became the de facto leader of the insurrection, recognized as such by the enemy and by the emperor. Austria officially declared its solidarity with the Tyrol and a steward was sent from Vienna to administer the region. Hofer withdrew from politics and returned to his wine business and his inn. When the Franco-Bavarian counter-offensive was launched and confirmed with the Battle of Wagram, Hofer took up arms again and the insurrection turned into a guerrilla war. Napoleon's marshal, Lefebvre, was defeated at the Battle of Bergsiel and Innsbruck was taken again. This time, a military regime was put in place and Hofer governed the Tyrol in the name of the emperor. But the victory was short-lived. Austria, exhausted, signed the Treaty of Schönbrunn on October 14, 1809 and the Tyrol was ceded to Bavaria. The insurgents had to lay down their arms against a promise of amnesty. Thinking that Austria was capable of waging war again, Hofer took up arms again on 12 November and the coalition of occupiers put a price on his head. He was betrayed by his neighbor, and the Italian army, allied with Bavaria, captured him in a mountain chalet where he was hiding. He was shot in Mantua on February 20, 1810. He became a hero and a martyr for the Germanic world insurgent against Napoleon's France, and remains for the Tyrol the symbol of the independence that the region never finally acquired.

In 1867, the Habsburg Empire had become a dual monarchy that took the name of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. It ended at the end of the First World War and the first Republic of Austria was proclaimed. Alto Adige and Trentino were annexed to Italy in 1919 by the Treaty of Saint-Germain (September 10, 1919). During the Fascist era, South Tyrol, then essentially German-speaking, experienced a traumatic period: Mussolini wanted to annihilate all Germanic cultural references, he imposed the exclusive use of the Italian language, had all localities renamed with Latin-sounding names and encouraged the immigration of workers from the peninsula to promote Italianization. In 1946, the Gasperi-Gruber agreement reconfirmed that South Tyrol belonged to Italy, subject to the recognition of the region's autonomy. The Italian Republic was slow to legislate on this particular regional status, which led to protests that culminated in the 1960s with the creation of the BAS terrorist movement, demanding the attachment to Austria. Initially responsible for attacks on power lines, it then attacked the forces of order and the population. A new status of autonomy is thus stipulated in 1972, making Trentino-Alto Adige an autonomous region. In 2016 the EGTC Tyrol Alto Adige-Trentin (EGTC for "European Grouping of Territorial Cooperation") was founded to facilitate cross-border cooperation between its members.

Like the rest of the world, Tyrol has of course been affected by the Coronavirus crisis. The tourism sector has been strongly affected: restaurants, hotels and especially the winter sports areas. In the spring of 2020, the ski resort of Ischgl in western Tyrol was the center of a very large cluster of Covid-19, contaminating thousands of tourists eager to slide and party. This case is being prosecuted. During the winter of 2021, accommodations and restaurants remained closed while access to the resorts was allowed only to locals. Despite this crisis, Tyrol is a rich region with a thriving economy and will therefore manage to recover quickly.