Bolzano, also known as Bozen (see ), is the capital city of South Tyrol, officially the province of Bolzano/Bozen, in northern Italy. The city has a population of . Bolzano is the largest city in South Tyrol and the third-largest in historical Tyrol. The greater metro area has about 250,000 inhabitants and is one of the urban centres within the Alps.
Bolzano is the seat of the Free University of Bozen-Bolzano, where lectures and seminars are held in Italian, German, and English. The city is also home to the Italian Army's Alpini High Command (COMALP) and some of its combat and support units. In the 2020 version of the annual ranking of quality of life in Italian cities, Bolzano was jointly ranked first for quality of life alongside Bologna. In 2023, the city was named a UNESCO City of Music, joining UNESCO's Creative Cities Network.
Along with other Alpine towns in South Tyrol, Bolzano engages in the Alpine Town of the Year Association for the implementation of the Alpine Convention. The Convention aims to promote and achieve sustainable development in the Alpine Arc. Consequently, Bolzano was awarded Alpine Town of the Year 2009. Bolzano is considered a bridge between Northern Europe and Southern Europe due to the three spoken languages in South Tyrol (Italian, German, and Ladin) and the confluence of the Italian and German-Austrian cultures.
Names The placename's first recorded cognates were Bauzanum and Bauzonum in the 8th century.
The city's Italian name is Bolzano ( ). The German name is Bozen (). The city and province are officially bilingual in Italian and German. The two official names may appear together, such as at Bolzano/Bozen railway station, the university (Bozen-Bolzano) and in the province's name. As the city is three-quarters Italian-speaking, it is usually named Bolzano by modern English-language publications. The name Bozen often appears in regional and historical contexts and was the city's main name until South Tyrol's forced Italianization from 1923 (see Annexation by Italy); the province is mainly German-speaking. The city tourist board brands it as Bolzano Bozen.
Ladin is the third-largest and the oldest language spoken in South Tyrol; Bolzano is named or in Ladin.
Geography
Location The area of the city of Bolzano is , of which is used as a settlement area. The city is located in the basin where the Sarntal, Eisacktal, and the Adige Valley with their rivers, Talfer, Eisack, and Adige, meet. In the Middle Ages, the two main Alpine crossings, the Via Claudia Augusta over and the Brenner route over Brenner Pass, met in Bolzano. Thus, the city was very important for trading. The highest point is above sea level and the lowest point is above sea level. The centre is located at an altitude of above sea level. The nearest big cities are (Trento) and (Innsbruck) away.
City districts and neighbouring communities
City districts (most district names were originally in German and Italianized at a later stage): Centro-Piani-Rencio/Zentrum-Bozner Boden-Rentsch Don Bosco/Don Bosco-Neugries Europa-Novacella/Europa-Neustift Gries-San Quirino/Gries-Quirein Oltrisarco-Aslago/Oberau-Haslach
In 1911 Dodiciville/Zwölfmalgreien and in late 1925 the Gries municipality were incorporated in the Bolzano municipality. Neighbouring communities are: Eppan, Karneid, Laives, Deutschnofen, Ritten, Jenesien, Terlan and Vadena.
Climate Being located at multiple climate borders, Bolzano features a humid subtropical climate (Cfa) with hot summers and very cold winters by Italian standards. According to the Trewartha classification, this climate could not really be considered a subtropical climate because fewer than 8 months are at least , and thus would be considered a semi-continental climate with hot summers. Some of its suburbs are designated an oceanic climate (Cfb) based on cooler summer temperatures, while mountains in the area may feature a continental climate (Dfb). The climate of Bolzano is influenced by its low altitude in a valley south of the main Alps. This causes very sheltered conditions from cool winds during daytime, ensuring much warmer temperatures year-round than in similar valley cities north of the range.
Demographics
+Foreign residents by nationalityNationality Population (2025) 2,5401,084 852672374241224210The oldest surviving register of houses in Bolzano, dating from 1288, lists 48 houses. However, it does not refer to the inner old town, but rather to the Weintraubengasse and Bindergasse located to its east, as well as to the street running north of them, corresponding to today's Via Vintler and Via dei Vanga. As a supplement to this source, the rent register of the Lords of Wangen from 1290 can be used; this constitutes a market-rights register for the entire Via dei Portici, part of the Piazza delle Erbe, and the Neustadt (today's Via Argentieri and Via Dr. Streiter), and lists a further 106 houses. Against this background, the total urban population around 1300 is estimated at 1,500 to 2,000 inhabitants.
According to a register of houses in the city centre from 1497, the town was divided into eight quarters and comprised around 160 houses.Karl Theodor Hoeniger: Ein Häuserverzeichnis der Bozner Altstadt von 1497. In: Veröffentlichungen des Tiroler Landesmuseums Ferdinandeum, Band 31. Innsbruck 1951, pp. 309–310; Hannes Obermair: Bozen Süd – Bolzano Nord. Schriftlichkeit und urkundliche Überlieferung der Stadt Bozen bis 1500. Band 2, Bozen 2008, p. 230f. no. 1319 (with further explanations). The list records the tax contributions of the house owners and was presumably compiled in connection with the empire-wide Turkish tax.Hannes Obermair: Bozen Süd – Bolzano Nord. Schriftlichkeit und urkundliche Überlieferung der Stadt Bozen bis 1500. Band 2, Bozen 2008, p. 231. By the late 15th century, the urban population is estimated to have amounted to approximately 3,000 to 4,000 people.This is the source-based estimate provided by Hannes Obermair: Das alte Schneiderhandwerk in Bozen. In: Der Schlern. 85, Heft 1, 2011, p. 32.
In 1900, Bolzano, including the garrison, had 13,904 mostly German-speaking inhabitants (1,493 Italian speakers). The incorporation of Dodiciville and Gries, as well as the construction of new urban quarters during the interwar period, contributed to strong population growth in the first half of the 20th century, particularly in the context of the Italianization policies vigorously promoted by Italian fascism. In 1966, Bolzano's population exceeded the threshold of 100,000 for the first time, after having stood at 59,951 in 1940. The highest population figure in the city's history was recorded in 1975, with 107,112 inhabitants. After a subsequent decline to well below 100,000, the population began to grow again markedly with the onset of the new millennium.
As of 31 December 2022, 106,107 people were resident in Bolzano, including 54,959 women (52.2%) and 51,148 men (47.8%). At the end of 2022, 15,818 foreign nationals were registered in Bolzano, corresponding to 14.8% of the total population. This makes Bolzano the municipality of residence for around one third of all foreign residents living in South Tyrol. The largest groups of foreign nationals registered in Bolzano on 31 December 2022 came from Albania (2,596), Morocco (1,325), Pakistan (1,160), Romania (1,147), Ukraine (807), China (736), Germany (643), and Peru (470). In 2004, the first advisory council for foreign residents was established to support the municipal council on matters concerning foreign residents.
Linguistic distribution Language group Year German Italian Ladin 1900 88,09 % 11,45 % - 1910 90,82 % 5,49 % -1921 73% 27% - 1939 38% 62% -197122,40 %77,22 %0,38 %198125,77 %73,63 %0,60 %199126,62 %72,59 %0,79 %200126,29 %73,00 %0,71 %201125,52 %73,80 %0,68 %202424,74 %74,71 %0,55 %
According to the Austrian census of 1910, a total of 29,241 inhabitants lived in the then still independent municipalities of Bolzano, Gries, and Zwölfmalgreien combined, of whom only 1,605 declared Italian as their language of daily use, while 26,558 declared German. Through fascism and the Italianization policy under Benito Mussolini in the inter-war period, the Italian language group became the majority in Bolzano. Prior to the annexation of South Tyrol to Italy (Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye, 1919) a small Italophone community of up to 10% of the population already lived in Bolzano. As early as the 1940s, the city had an Italian-speaking majority.
According to the 2024 census, 74.71% of the city's inhabitants spoke Italian, 24.74% German and 0.55% Ladin as their first language. The percentage values are based exclusively on valid declarations of language group affiliation or language group assignment by persons holding Italian citizenship. Owing to its bicultural character, Bolzano is regarded as an important meeting place between the German- and Italian-speaking cultural and economic spheres. An increasing number of residents speak more than just their native language.
History
Prehistory and Roman settlement The modern-day Bolzano was in ancient times a marshy region inhabited by the Raetian Isarci people, traditionally believed to be descendants of Etruscan refugees fleeing Italy from the invading Gauls.Pliny the Elder III.20 The Romans built a settlement after the area had been conquered in 15 BC by general Nero Claudius Drusus. The military settlement, Pons Drusi (Drusus Bridge), was named after this Roman general. During this time, the area became part of the region Venetia et Histria (Regio X) of ancient Italy.
In 1948, excavations of the current Cathedral led to the discovery of an ancient Christian basilica from the fourth century. Also discovered was a Roman cemetery, including the tomb of "Secundus Regontius" with Latin inscriptions dating to the third century, making him the oldest known inhabitant of Bolzano.Karl Maria Mayr (1949). "Der Grabstein des Regontius aus der Pfarrkirche in Bozen". Der Schlern, 23, pp. 302-303.
Bavarian settlement During the gradual decline of the Lombard influence in the seventh century, Bavarian immigration took place, and the first mention of a Bavarian ruler in Bolzano dates from 679.As reported by Paulus Diaconus in his Historia Langobardorum, V 36, ed. Georg Waitz, MGH Scriptores rerum Langobardicarum, Hannover 1878, p. 35: comes Baioariorum quem illi gravionem dicunt. At that time, the Bavarians named the nearby villages around Bolzano Bauzanum or Bauzana.Richard Heuberger (1930). "Natio Noricorum et Pregnariorum". Veröffentlichungen des Museum Ferdinandeum in Innsbruck, No. 10, p. 7. In 769 Tassilo III, Duke of Bavaria issued in Bolzano the foundation charter of the Innichen Abbey. German populations have been present in the region of Tyrol from that period onwards. At around the year 1000, the settlement is called "in Pauzana valle, quae lingua Teutisca Pozana nuncupatur".Josef Widemann (1943). Die Traditionen des Hochstifts Regensburg und des Klosters St. Emmeram (Quellen und Erörterungen zur bayerischen und deutschen Geschichte, NF 8). Munich: C.H. Beck, pp. 216-7, no. 259; Franz Huter (1937). Tiroler Urkundenbuch. I.1. Innsbruck: Wagner, no. 33.
Bishopric of Trent
In 1027 the area of Bolzano and the rest of the Diocese was conferred upon the bishops of Trent by the emperor Conrad II from the Salian dynasty. In the late-12th century, the bishop founded a market town, along the Lauben thoroughfare. The town therefore became an important trading post on the Transalpine Augsburg-Venice route over the Brenner Pass, elevation above sea level, within the Holy Roman Empire.Hannes Obermair (2007). "'Bastard Urbanism'? Past Forms of Cities in the Alpine Area of Tyrol-Trentino". Concilium medii aevi, 10, pp. 53-76, esp. pp. 64-66.
County of Tyrol