Sterzing, with its sunny main street of which a most charming vista is got as one enters the town through the ancient gateway on the Brenner road, and shady arcades which remind one of the "unter den Lauben" of Meran, stands on the site of a Roman settlement, Vipitenum. It is situated at the junction of three beautiful valleys, the Ridnaun Thal, Pflersch Thal, Pfitscher Thal, in a broad basin-like depression, encircled by shapely mountain slopes, and on the right bank of the Eisack. Though nowadays possessing a population of less than 3000, Sterzing at once strikes one as having an air of importance and prosperity, hardly in keeping with its small size. Formerly, however, the town was an important mining centre, and the larger of its quaint and picturesque balconied and bay-windowed houses owe their origin to the wealthier inhabitants of the past. Marble quarrying and polishing is still carried on somewhat extensively, and doubtless helps to retain an air of commercial life and industry in the quaint old place.
Sterzing is wonderfully decorative and compact in general effect; and there are a surprising number of fine and interesting buildings to be seen in its narrow old-time streets. The Rathaus, with its striking bow windows, is of late Gothic architecture, and in it is a fine fifteenth-century altar-piece, and some interesting and well-executed wood carvings. This building, now used by the town officials and magistrates, was formerly doubtless a mansion of a wealthy merchant. In it is one of the best preserved specimens of a Gothic ceiling, dating from about the middle of the fifteenth century, that we have seen in Tyrol in any private house of similar size.
The church has been extensively, but on the whole well restored. It dates from the sixteenth century, and has a Gothic choir of note, and nave and aisles restored in the Rococo style, the ceiling paintings of which are by Adam Mölckh. The general effect of the interior is good, and the church has some interesting architectural details.
The decline of Sterzing is attributable to the same cause as that of many other townlets and villages upon the old post-roads, and the roads over the passes which have gradually become less and less used as railroads have multiplied. But, in the case of Sterzing, its gradual descent from the position of importance it once occupied, traces of which are found in the numerous fine houses still standing, was undoubtedly more owing to the exhaustion or abandonment of the mining industry than to the coming of the railway which so seriously affected the road traffic of the Brenner Pass.
Near Sterzing, it should be remembered, Hofer and his peasant forces fought the first big engagement of the struggle in 1809, which ended in the defeat of the Bavarians, who were driven back across the Brenner, Hofer having crossed the Jaufen from his home at St. Martin in the Passeier Valley.
Matrei, or, as it is also called, Deutsch-Matrei, is the only place of any size or importance which we have not already described on the line between Sterzing and Innsbruck, or along the Brenner road. The little town is charmingly situated, and like others of similar character and altitude (it lies nearly 3300 feet above sea-level), is becoming more and more resorted to by tourists and travellers upon the Brenner route. The Castle of Trautson, belonging to Prince Auersperg, stands on the hillside above it. Sterzing forms a fine centre for ascents and excursions, and there is a most interesting pilgrimage church on the north-eastern flank of the Waldrast Spitze dedicated to the Virgin, and known by the name of the mountain; it dates from the middle of the fifteenth century. Its foundation was in consequence of a peasant's dream, in which he was directed to go to the woods, lie down and rest, and there he should be told what to do. When he had done this the Virgin appeared to him, and bade him build a chapel on the spot over an image of her which had miraculously appeared no one knew how some years before. To this chapel was given the name of Maria Waldrast (Wood's rest), and although the monastery, which was built on the spot more than a century and a half later, in 1624, is now but a ruin, the pilgrimage is even nowadays made by the devout to the church which is so beautifully situated more than 5300 feet above sea-level.
CHAPTER IX
SOME TOWNS AND VILLAGES OF WALSCH-TYROL: TRENT, ITS HISTORY, COUNCIL, AND BUILDINGS—ROVEREDO AND DANTE—ARCO—RIVA
Trent, which is easily reached from Bozen through the Etschland by the Bozen-Verona line, which winds through some delightful scenery and passes many a ruined castle perched high on inaccessible heights, is not only a large town of upwards of 25,000 inhabitants, but was anciently one of the wealthiest in Tyrol. It is generally supposed to have been founded by the Etruscans, and both Pliny and Ptolemy make mention of it; but whoever designed Trent seized upon a beautiful situation, and the builders have left behind them in the quaint town, broad streets, handsome palaces of dead and gone nobles, and a forest of towers and spires, delightful survivals of mediæval days. Surrounded by limestone crags, the city itself, notwithstanding its Italian character and fine atmosphere, gives one at first sight an impression of lack of colour which is not usually the case with Italian towns.
Regarding the foundation of the city and the origin of its name, there is at least a local tradition that it was founded in the time of Tarquinius Priscus, about B.C. 616, by a body of Etruscans led by Rhaetius; and these founders, although so far removed from the sea, instituted the worship of Neptune, from which circumstance the ancient name Tridentum was derived. Be this as it may, the circumstance is interesting, as in these Etruscans under the leadership of Rhaetius one can perhaps discover the origin of the Rhaeti, who ultimately gave so much trouble to the Empire of Rome. At any rate, Rhaetius gave his name to the district in the immediate vicinity of Trent. The interesting Castle Del Buon Consiglio, which forms so dominating a feature of the town, and possesses a circular and lofty donjon of the type of Guy's Tower at Warwick, with its fine Renaissance loggia in the inner or fountain courtyard and several storied arcades in the older, was once the residence of the Prince Bishops, but now used as barracks. In it is preserved an ancient inscription relating to the government of the town, which proves that the regulations and statutes were very largely modelled upon those of Rome itself.