Deep within Italy’s northernmost reaches where it shares a border with Austria, one of the country’s most spectacular regions lies in the shadows of the Dolomites. Despite its sweeping mountain panoramas, flower-studded alpine meadows and crystal clear sunshine, Alto Adige remains virtually unknown to American travelers. Its beauty combines with a rich cultural history, and its world-class restaurants serve a sophisticated cuisine influenced by Austria and the neighboring region of Veneto.

While Trentino-Alto Adige is officially a single region, it is made up of two autonomous states, with Alto Adige to the north, bordering Austria, and Trentino to the south, where it shares the tip of Lake Garda with Veneto and Lombardy.

In Alto Adige, the Austrian influence can be seen everywhere. It was the southernmost region of the Austrian state of Tyrol under the House of Habsburg from the 14th century until the end of WWI. A majority of residents still consider German their first language and refer to their home by its German name, Südtirol, or South Tyrol. Though Mussolini worked tirelessly to Italianize the land, which he won in the war, it remains unabashedly Teutonic. It had been a rich and vital state for the Habsburgs, and thrived during the Belle Époque, becoming a major destination for Austrian aristocrats. This is evident in its elegant historic spas and alpine retreats. But it is Alto Adige’s rich and robust cuisine, crafted around local bounty and executed in a number of excellent restaurants, that showcases this unexpected cultural blend.

Among its vaunted fruits are apples and the indigenous mirtilli berry. Alpine dairy farms churn out rich butter and an array of cheeses you can’t find anywhere else. Wild herbs are harvested from mountain meadows, and local game including venison always makes it onto the table. There are dozens of regional specialties, one of the most popular being speck, cured and smoked pork shoulder, as well as knödel, the German word for the dumpling called canederli in Italian, and apple strudel that locals claim is better than any in Austria.

Traveling on ss508, one of the area’s larger roads, less than thirty miles north of Bolzano, Alto Adige’s capital, you will arrive in the small town of Sarentino at the base of one of the most picturesque valleys in the area. Another ten minutes along the roads that snake up the valley’s rolling hills, nestled among the pine trees, the hotel and restaurant Auener Hof has been a gastronomic destination since the late 1990s and offers spectacular views of the Sarentino Valley.

Not only does this part of Italy reflect a unique blend of Germanic and Italian culture, it also posesses a distinct sense of hospitality that marries the rustic essence of the mountains with a subdued sophistication and elegance. Auener Hof represents this confluence of styles perfectly. It’s not just that the outside looks like an unassuming farmhouse, while inside carefully curated stacks of wood are piled in cubbyholes recessed into the walls next to the fireplace. And it’s not the way the dining room’s stark white tablecloths, elegant long-stemmed glasses and high-design dishware contrast with the traditional wooden chairs that look straight out of Hansel and Gretel, as well as the walls clad in antlers and taxidermy. It is best seen in the Michelin-starred cuisine of Heinrich Schneider, who brings together ingredients from the local fields with contemporary style and grace.

Spring is the best time to visit Auener Hof, when Schneider takes to the fields each day to pick herbs, flowers and, as he calls them, “weeds” that will drive the flavors in his dishes. “After the snow has melted, many wild herbs grow in the forest around the restaurant. I know this land and the forest very well. I have used these herbs in my kitchen for years,” he says. He has worked with herbalists and become one himself when it comes to the indigenous flora.

With a style that can be classified as alta cucina or haute cuisine, he works greens such as dandelion into his ice cream and the rose-like burnet into a sauce for meat. But it is not just the local foliage that Schneider brings to the plate. Except for seafood, most all of his ingredients are culled from the region’s bounty. There’s his praline of herbed local cheese in a gelatin of regional Gewürztraminer and pear mostarda; a fillet of pike from nearby waters with almonds in a cream of carrots and a reduction of raspberry vinegar; and a millefoglie of dumplings, corned beef tongue, wild greens and horseradish. These dishes, along with many others at Auener Hof, typify the unique style of cooking found in Alto Adige’s high-end restaurants. It’s an approach that may seem at first to drift toward the lofty but is grounded by calling attention to nature, delivering unexpected flavors from the surrounding terroir. “The region distinguishes itself by keeping traditions alive while keeping an eye forward to the future,” Schneider says.

Down the road ten minutes, at the mountain chic Hotel Bad Schörgau, chef Gregor Wenter makes creative use of another regional icon: the area’s prevalent mountain pines. The pino mugo, as it’s called locally, permeates the hotel’s aesthetic. Majestic sarner dwarf pines surround the property. Their sap is used in a line of bath products and cosmetics featured in guest rooms and at the on-site spa, and Wenter harnesses their flavor for his singular culinary uses.

South Tyrol’s mountain dwellers have a long tradition of using natural resources in unique therapies such as pine and hay baths, and Wenter’s innovations in the kitchen are an extension of that resourceful spirit. “It’s something we’ve developed over the last eight years,” Wenter says, “pulling out the essence of the pine without the bitterness, yet still keeping the color, along with other characteristics.”

While Wenter’s dishes are Italian on the surface, they are also inherently avant-garde. Among his most striking specialties is the ground pine pesto he uses to fill saffron tortelli. He marinates salmon in a pine syrup mix, and uses pine to finish off risotto. He sears venison steak in flour he makes from the buds.

Wenter finds Alto Adige’s nature an ongoing inspiration in his work. With hundreds of working farms and several micro-climates that offer a dizzying variety for such a small area, there’s plenty to leverage.  “We have a strong sense of tradition in Alto Adige,” he says, “but people also travel all over the world and come back to do things here. We’re always keeping an eye on the world, yet we know where we come from and we like life here. It’s inside of us.”

An hour and a half east of Sarentino, the town of Corvara lies in Val Badia surrounded by the towering mountains of the Puez-Geisler and Fanes-Sennes-Prags parks. Tucked between them, the Hotel La Perla makes the most of the surrounding land, luring stylish skiers in winter and vacationers in spring and summer, when it displays the fruits of its surrounding hills and meadows in full regalia. Outside, the hotel’s windows and balconies are draped in vibrantly colored flowers. Two lush on-site gardens filled in every possible corner sprout plants of all shapes, sizes and varieties.

The staff grows herbs and produce in these gardens that take center stage at the hotel’s acclaimed La Stüa de Michil restaurant. “Spring is a beautiful time here in South Tyrol,” says chef Arturo Spicocchi. “It is very typical to use our flowers and grasses in South Tyrolean cuisine. And we used them in a particular way. Especially in the summer, when the flowers and herbs we grow are always at hand.”

What’s most unique about the dining experience at this Michelin-starred spot is to see how Spicocchi transforms the kaleidoscope of the garden outside into eye-popping touches on the plate. He tops orzo that’s prepared risotto-style with red, purple, yellow and green blooms. Small buds and micro-greens finish a smoked pork fillet over potatoes. The décor is classic stube, the walls and ceilings clad in wood, and each table displays artfully arranged bouquets that echo the lively landscaping outside.

Closer to bolzano, about 20 minutes east and near the sprawling Schlern-Rosengarten Nature Park, is a small area called Fiè allo Sciliar, where the Romantik Hotel Turm resides. Its hotel, spa and restaurant are located in a small network of houses and towers that date to the 13th century.

While the spa, pool and salt grotto seem to be the main attraction for most, the food is worth the picture-perfect trip from Bolzano. Chef Stefan Pramstrahler turns out cannelloni stuffed with oysters in a cream sauce made from local mountain cheese and porcini mushrooms, and lamb with crispy purple garlic. Small spectacular towers of fois gras are served with apple and mango marinated in Sambuca.

Creative preparations like these are why Alto Adige has more Michelin-starred restaurants than any other region in Italy, and why the table is the best place to experience what makes the area unique. “The region’s strong culture is rich and deeply felt by the people who live here,” says La Stüa de Michil’s Spicocchi. “Matched with their hospitable nature, these things allow us to collect innovation at its best. It’s the perfect combination.” 

photo by Stefano Scatà

Hotel Auener Hof
Frazione Prati 21; 39058 Sarentino, Italy; tel. 39 0471 623055; auenerhof.it

Hotel Bad Schörgau
Via Bad Schorgau 24; 39058 Sarentino, Italy; tel. 39 0471 623048;
bad-schoergau.com

Hotel La Perla
Strada Col Alt 105; 39033 Corvara, Italy; tel. 39 0471 831000; hotel-laperla.it

Hotel Turm
Piazza Chiesa 9; 39050 Fiè allo Sciliar,
Italy; tel. 39 0471 725014; hotelturm.it

Ristorante Auener Hof
Frazione Prati 21; 39058 Sarentino, Italy; tel. 39 0471 623055; auenerhof.it

Hotel Bad Schörgau
Via Bad Schorgau 24; 39058 Sarentino, Italy; tel. 39 0471 623048;
bad-schoergau.com

La Stüa de Michil, Hotel La Perla
Strada Col Alt 105; 39033 Corvara, Italy; tel. 39 0471 831000; hotel-laperla.it

Romantik, Hotel Turm
Piazza Chiesa 9; 39050 Fiè allo Sciliar,
Italy; tel. 39 0471 725014; hotelturm.it

March 2012

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travel, alto adige