Overview
The Castle is a large and sumptuous mountain residential building, different from the others in the Adige and Isarco/Eisack valleys due to its minor age and the absence of fortifications, not even ten kilometres from Vipiteno/Sterzing.
Its originality makes it well worth a visit. Wolfsthurn is in fact nothing more than a residence of 18th-century origin, still owned by the Sternbach family who bought it in the following century. The family's passion for numbers is evident here: the building has 365 windows, 52 doors, 12 chimneys and 4 portals like the days, weeks, months and seasons of the year. It was unusual to have housed a curious Hunting and Fishing Museum on the first floor regarded from a historical and cultural perspective. There are dioramas displaying wild animals typical of the area, an exhibition of folk art objects such as powder horns, hunters' meat and cutlery, snuffboxes, balsa boxes, pipes or glasses, other dioramas with local fish species, and a fly-fishing collection.
The rooms on the second floor have remained in their original state, providing a glimpse into the lifestyles of the nobility between the 18th and 19th centuries. Several rooms still have tapestries on the walls, illustrated by details about these textile decorations, their production and a history of how they came into being. A place that is perhaps a little strange, in short, but nevertheless attractive.
