Experience in Bolzano, Italy by Caterina

What is it like to live in Bolzano? Would you recommend it? What is the city like?

It is a small lovely and green town in South Tyrol. There is a lot to do regarding sport activities. During the winter you can go skiing and snowboarding, ice-skating and watching the Bolzano ice hockey team playing. During the warmer seasons you can go swimming in many different lakes and "lidi", where you can relax and swim in many swimming pools on a green grass. You can go hiking and trekking on the beautiful Dolomites.

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What is the student lifestyle like in Bolzano?

Relaxing and also stressful lifestyle. Mostly relaxing during the holidays and weekends but stressful if you have exams like I do, usually in January-February, June-July and September, and if you hard working stuff to do during the week.

How much does it cost to live in Bolzano?

Renting an apartment alone costs about 500-1200 Euros, it depends.

There are some student residence in town but I do not know them, since I live here with my family.

Is it difficult to find accommodation in Bolzano? Is there any advice you can give?

You can ask the Community of Bolzano, the "LUB" (Libera Università di Bolzano) or the "Claudiana" (Provincial High School of Health, where most lessons of Health Faculties from other Italian cities such as Physical Therapy of Ferrara and Nursing of Verona take place), they may give you some more information about it.

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What is the food like? What are your favourite dishes?

It is very good. The most famous dishes are: canederli di speck, di spinaci, di formaggio (Graukaeseknoedl); Marillenknoedel e Zwetschknoedl; Speck; Spiegelei; Groestl; Kartoffelsalad; Wienerschnitzel...

And then you can eat very good Italian food, but also Indian restaurants and Japanese sushi have become very famous here lately.

South Tyrol is one of the principal Italian regions which takes care a lot about biological and eco-sustainable food.

What places would you recommend visiting in Bolzano?

Dolomites; Oetzi; Museion; Talvera promenades; Toerggelen around Bolzano during the autumn; Caldaro Lake and the Wine Road; Merano and its Terme; Mendola; Christmas markts...

Is it good to eat out in Bolzano? Can you tell us your favourite spots?

It is! For example I love to go for "Torggelen" to some "maso" (private house turned into restaurant during the high seasons) and eat chestnuts and drink a good "mosto" (grape must). There are a lot of "masi" in and around Bolzano where you can eat very well. One of my favourite spots is S. Magdalener.

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Is the nightlife good in Bolzano? Where is good to go?

It isn't much fun here, since it is a small town. BUt you can go to Piazza Erbe, the centre of Bolzano and drink some craft beer in one of the bars there. There are some discos around like Miro, Rise, Baila, Juwel, Stadtwerk... nothing to do with the real discos, but if you like that atmosphere...

What advice would you give future students headed to Bolzano?

You can go to the Sprachcafè at the Papperlapub near to Piazza Duomo and learn some Italian or other languages such as German, English, French, Spanish, Portuguese and Russian and meet local friendly people. You can join the couchsurfing web and look for Couchsurfing meetings in Bolzano where you can meet other people who live or are new in Bolzano and are open minded, open to new foreign people.

You can go to the Claudiana nights and LUB parties, where a lot of students go...