Bolzano grew up as a market town on the road between Germany and Italy, and its streets still show who traded, prayed and ruled here. This guide covers five places on that story, from the medieval merchant streets to the 20th century: the fruit market of Piazza delle Erbe, the arcades of Via dei Portici, the Dominican Church, the Victory Monument across the Talfer river and the castle of Maretsch. All five can be linked in one walk through and just beyond the old town.
Piazza delle Erbe, the fruit market
This long, narrow square at the western end of the arcades began as the market where farmers from the countryside sold their produce to the townspeople, and it still has its fruit and vegetable stalls, now joined by stalls selling other food and flowers. The town law of 1437 said that poultry, fruit and eggs could only be sold here. Goethe passed through in 1786 and mentioned the market in his Italian Journey.
- The Neptune Fountain, a bronze figure cast in 1749 by Joachim Reiss from a model by Georg Mayr and set up in 1777 where a pillory once stood. Locals call it the Gabelwirt, the 'fork innkeeper', because of his trident.
- The point where the arcades, Via Museo, Via dei Francescani and Via Goethe meet; the old Upper Gate once closed the arcades here to the west.
Via dei Portici, the arcades
The arcaded street running from Piazza delle Erbe to the town hall square is the main street of the old town. The bishops of Trent laid it out at the end of the 12th century as a street market, and they soon shared control of it with the Counts of Tyrol. The houses are narrow and deep: about six metres wide at the front and around twenty long, with storerooms, stables and workers' quarters behind, and cellars that often go two or three floors underground.
During the great trade fairs the Bolzano merchants rented out their vaults, the northern arcades usually to traders from the south and the southern arcades to traders from the north. Above the arcades, the flats are built around light wells that bring daylight down into the middle of these deep houses.
- The light wells and narrow stairwells, many with wrought-iron railings, that you can glimpse through open doorways; and the Mercantile Museum, whose tour of underground Bolzano explains the history of the arcades.
Dominican Church
The Dominicans are first recorded in Bolzano in 1272, when they settled just outside the town wall to the south. Their church holds some of the most important medieval paintings in the region. In the Chapel of St John, painters from the Veneto worked around 1330 in the manner of Giotto, borrowing from his frescoes in the Scrovegni Chapel in Padua.
Part of the former friary now houses the Claudio Monteverdi Conservatory, where the Ferruccio Busoni International Piano Competition is held, and another part houses the city gallery. The church is one of the stops on our scavenger hunt.
- The cloister, vaulted in the late 15th century, with frescoes of the life of the Virgin and the Passion, six of them by Friedrich Pacher from 1496. They were uncovered only in 1950.
- In the merchants' chapel, an altarpiece by Guercino of 1655 showing the Vision of St Dominic at Soriano, ordered by the Mercantile Magistrate.
Victory Monument
West of the old town, across the Talfer bridge, stands a white marble triumphal arch built by Fascist Italy after it took South Tyrol from Austria at the end of the First World War. Designed by Marcello Piacentini, it was inaugurated on 12 July 1928 in the presence of King Victor Emmanuel III. It replaced an Austrian memorial to the fallen Kaiserjäger soldiers that was never finished and was blown up in June 1927 to make room for it.
For the German-speaking population the monument stood for decades for Italianisation, and it remains controversial. Since 21 July 2014 an exhibition in its underground rooms, BZ '18–'45, tells the story of Bolzano and South Tyrol under Fascism and Nazism, and turns the monument into a place to learn about that history rather than celebrate it.
- The fourteen columns and half-columns shaped like huge fasces, the Roman bundles of rods with axe blades that gave Fascism its name.
- The Latin inscription on the east side, beginning HIC PATRIAE FINES SISTE SIGNA, which claims that from this border Italy brought language, laws and arts to the others; the original text said 'barbarians'.
Maretsch Castle
Just east of the Talfer promenade, on the edge of the town centre, stands Maretsch Castle. Its massive keep dates from the 13th century, and the lords of Maretsch who gave it their name are recorded from 1275. Between 1558 and 1570 the Römer family, above all Lukas Römer, turned the old castle into a Renaissance residence, adding four round corner towers of different sizes and painting the rooms with frescoes.
- Today the castle is run by the Bolzano castles foundation as an events and conference centre, and it can be visited at certain times. It is not on the scavenger hunt route, but it is an easy detour along the river.
How to see them in one walk
Start at Piazza delle Erbe in the morning, when the stalls are fullest, then walk east under the arcades of Via dei Portici. Turn off to the south to reach the Dominican Church and its cloister, then walk back west across Piazza Walther and the old town to the Talfer river. Cross the Talfer bridge to the Victory Monument and its exhibition, and finish with a walk up the riverside promenade to Maretsch Castle.
See Bolzano with World City Trail
Our Bolzano scavenger hunt turns the old town into a game you play on your phone. The route links 10 stops, from Bolzano Cathedral to the Dominican Church, and Via dei Portici, Piazza delle Erbe, the Victory Monument and the Dominican Church are all stops, along with Piazza Walther, the old town, the South Tyrol Museum of Archaeology, the Museo Civico and Museion. At each stop you solve a puzzle and learn a story, at your own pace.
There is also a self-guided walking tour and an outdoor escape game in Bolzano, for people who prefer a different format.
Play the Bolzano scavenger hunt →
Take the self-guided walking tour of Bolzano →
Play the outdoor escape game in Bolzano →
Facts checked in October 2026.