Glorenza: The Alps' Smallest Walled Town, Untouched

At the far north-west of South Tyrol, where the Val Venosta narrows towards the Swiss border and the alpine passes, there is a place that seems to have stopped. Glorenza, Glurns in German, has fewer than a thousand inhabitants and can be crossed on foot in a few minutes. And yet it is a town in every sense: it gained that status in the early fourteenth century, when it was a trading hub along the ancient Via Claudia Augusta, the road that linked the Po plain to the Germanic lands.

The walls

What strikes you is the ring of walls, a little over a kilometre long and left essentially intact. You can walk the whole circuit, punctuated by towers and by three gateways still standing. The walls we see today stem from a reconstruction between the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, after the town had been almost razed to the ground. It is this continuity that makes it rare: not an isolated castle, but an entire fortified town that has come down to us without being disfigured.

Inside the walls

Inside the walls the pace changes. Arcades run along the main streets, shady and silent, built for shelter from sun and snow. Beneath them grain was once traded and tolls were paid; today they house a few shops, a café, wooden signs. The low, plastered houses, with their dormers and sloping roofs, tell of a sober, functional mountain architecture, far from any ostentation.

The rhythm of the town

Glorenza can be explored without haste and without crowds: there are no queues here, no ticket offices, only the sound of your own footsteps on the cobblestones. That is both its strength and its fragility. It is worth staying a night, watching it empty at dusk when the day-trippers leave and only the walls remain, the River Adige not far off, and the still-snowy peaks in the background.

When to go

The best months are late spring and early autumn, when the light is clear and the valley is not yet caught up in summer or winter tourism. From here you can reach the apple orchards, the Monte Maria abbey and the trails of the Upper Val Venosta on foot or by bike. A good base for anyone seeking the Alps without the crowds.

Related guides: Hidden medieval villages in Italy: gems far from the crowds · Little-known castles of Italy: fortresses and manors off the mass-tourism map · Off-season destinations in Italy: where to go away from the crowds (and when).

Getting there

Glorenza lies in the upper Val Venosta, in South Tyrol: by car you reach it by driving up the valley from Merano along the SS38 road, or by descending from the Reschen Pass. The rail link is the Val Venosta railway (Merano-Malles); from the nearest station you continue by local scheduled buses. The nearest airports are Bolzano, Innsbruck and Verona.