The smallest walled town in South Tyrol
In the upper Val Venosta, in the plain where the Adige flows between meadows and apple orchards, Glorenza (Glurns) is a tiny town of fewer than a thousand inhabitants which, thanks to its town charter granted in 1294 by Count Meinhard II of Tyrol, is one of the smallest towns in the Alps and the smallest in South Tyrol. Founded as a market town and a customs post on the salt road between Tyrol, Switzerland and Lombardy, it prospered in the Middle Ages, but in 1499 it was burned by Swiss troops in the Swabian War. It was then rebuilt and surrounded by the walls that we still see today, built in the sixteenth century by Emperor Maximilian I.
The walls, almost intact, completely enclose the small town, with round towers at the corners and three gateway towers, the Tauferer Tor, the Malser Tor and the Schludernser Tor, and a covered walkway that can be walked in some stretches. Inside, the town has preserved its medieval appearance: a small main street with arcades, the Laubengasse, lined with low houses with thick walls, small windows and wooden balconies, flowered courtyards and narrow lanes, a picturesque square with an old fountain and the parish church of San Pancrazio, outside the walls, with a large fresco of the Last Judgement on the bell tower. Glorenza has few shops and little traffic, and walking through it is like going back in time. Every year in autumn, the Glorenza market recalls its ancient commercial tradition.
Tip: walk around the walls, both outside and inside; combine Glorenza with the Abbey of Monte Maria, a few kilometres away.
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