Oltradige style

The Oltradige style has its origins in the south, that is to say in Tuscany. From 1550 to 1600 many residences in Caldaro and Termeno were extended and rebuilt, mainly by Italian master builders. Above all the Tuscan construction style considerably influenced this architecture - Claudia de’ Medici, at that time Regent of the Austrian County of Tyrol, actually was born in Florence in 1604. Also her son, Ferdinand Charles, Archduke of Austria, preferred the Oltradige style.

Typical for the Oltradige construction style - a late Gothic construction style influenced by the Italian Renaissance - are the building complexes with an inner courtyard, mullioned windows, loggias, crenellations, beautiful oriels and outside staircases. Inside the residences are characterised by rooms arranged symmetrically around a hall or a long corridor.

The Italian flair has got a positive impact on the buildings that are a feast for the eyes: they present themselves as majestic residences, but at the same time with playful details. Around 1600 the heyday of the Oltradige style ended, whereas in 1900 it was reinterpreted in Bolzano as the so-called “Heimatstil”, a construction style visible e.g. on the building which today houses the Bolzano Municipal Museum in the Via Cassa di Risparmio road. By the way: the term “Oltradige” refers to the geographical area west of the Adige river including the villages of Appiano and Caldaro. The Oltradige construction style, however, can also be found in the neighbouring Termeno.