Bressanone

Some refer to Bressanone as "little Salzburg" and, indeed, the city has an allure recalling that of the most charming, cultured and historically rich centres across the border. Just like Salzburg, Bressanone was the capital of a long-lived episcopal principality, which survived from the 11th century until the early 19th century, and its historic centre alternates between mediaeval atmospheres and Baroque elegance. The South Tyrolean city also has something more: it is its location in the Eisack valley, on the southern side of the Alps, in a sunny plain bordered by two rivers, the Eisack and Rienz, surrounded by gentle vineyards where extraordinary wines are produced and by panoramic peaks, such as the Plose, the home mountain, served by a cable car. A walk through viaPortici Maggiori and via Portici Minori, with their annexes of small squares and tiny courtyards, is an irresistible invitation to taste the local flavours and shop in little shops that were as they were already in the Middle Ages, when shops and craft workshops opened here, well protected by the porticoes.

There is also the Cathedral of S. Cassiano and S. Maria Assunta which features an imposing 18th-century façade and two bell towers, and dazzles with Baroque interiors that look like "the antechamber to paradise", the (perhaps somewhat interesting) definition of the prince-bishop who commissioned them. The lords of Bressanone had considerable ambitions, which is evidenced by the bishop's palace, now home to the Diocesan Museum, rebuilt from the end of the 16th century and focused on a lavish courtyard. Decidedly more intimate is the cloister of the Cathedral, next to the Cathedral: marked out in 20 frescoed arches between the end of the 14th and the entire 15th centuries, it provides more impressive evidence than an art history lesson of the transition from Gothic to late Gothic painting, and also gives access to two hidden churches. A place to be experienced in silence, the kind that can be worth a trip alone