Val Pusteria: good food and old traditions

Brunico: here we are in Val Pusteria to continue our trip in Alto Adige/Südtirol. We arrive just before sunset. And we find a vibrant and lively atmosphere, despite the summer season is just beginning.

To stay we choose the Hotel Posta, in the center of the town. We are hungry and immediately we get to the dinner table, with a first close encounter with the gastronomic specialties of the area… For the Hotel Posta it’s the evening of “grigliate”: grilled vegetables, meats and fish. The restaurant is also open for people not staying at the hotel and the tables are all occupied by tourists and also by locals who come here on a Friday night to taste the recipes of the chef, Albert. Absolutely not bad even the sweets! Beautiful as well as good, enough to merit a photo.

Our dinner on this old terrace brings me back, at the time of the hotel’s birth: the mid-nineteenth century, the age of stagecoaches. The coachman stopped here for refreshment or for spending the night. Since then, five generations of the same family, the von Grebmer, took care of the hotel, that also in the fine lines of the building has remained faithful to local traditions. In the album of memories there are images that trace the history, from the ladies in crinoline to ladies with k-way and technical wear. And there are also portraits of famous travelers who stayed here, as Emperor Franz Joseph, in 1886.

These ancient memories are with us even in our walk through the streets of Brunico. Here, every building, every facade, should be photographed. And so the shops. Mindful of the dinner, we focus especially those exhibiting products that have to do with the kitchen. As the Bottiglieria Harpf, a true temple of good wine, which opened just over a year ago. In elegant spaces of old building, the exhibition offers a wide variety of products: national and international wines, beers for gourmets (the absolute best one costs more than 1000 euro per liter!), mineral water, fruit juice and even accessories, such as bottle opener and glasses.

However, we can’t think only at good food! The subsequent experience has been on the bike paths, on the edge of fields and woods. And here we have made several other nice discoveries. But I tell you of these in the next “episode” of my travel diary…

 

Nicoletta Speltra