Traditional events in South Tyrol

South Tyrol's traditional festivals

The numerous events that are part of South Tyrol’s cultural calendar will give you the opportunity to experience and get to know this region and its people up close. Music and customs are closely connected, playing an important role in the local cultural life. A particularly impressive testimony of music and tradition is the Merano Grape Festival, held every year in mid-October in the city of Merano. It is now a full-blown folk festival, consisting in a grand parade which sees the participation of marching bands and fanfare corps from the entire Alpine region. 

Many valleys have indeed retained their traditions, and customs and rituals define the four seasons. Winter is driven out during the carnival season, for example at the Egetmann parade in Termeno - the last one of Tyrol's carnival traditions which still stands - dating back to 1591. In 2017 it was almost listed as an ‘Intangible UNESCO World Cultural Heritage’. A visit to the Egetmann parade is not for the faint hearted. Sometimes the spectacle gets quite brutal when the Egetmann Hansl (a rich local man) parades around with his eerily beautiful friends (the Schnappviechern), looking for a wife. 

Many church events mark the course of the year in South Tyrol. In particular, many processions and pilgrimages take place on holidays and weddings all over the region. For instance, the ‘Grand Marian Procession’ is held at the beginning of September in Lana, and is particularly lively. Whit Monday, instead, sees the annual pilgrimage to the Three Holy Fountains in Trafoi. The men’s pilgrimage from Val Badia to Sabiona monastery, which takes place every three years, is an old tradition dating back to the 13th century.