No province in Italy appears to be richer and luckier than South Tyrol. It has the very best per capita earnings and the bottom unemployment price. The standard of life is excessive, because of a beneficiant welfare system, an environment friendly public administration and breathtaking surroundings.
Not surprisingly, vacationers from all around the world are interested in this Alpine land on the Austrian border, which appears like the proper setting for a remake of The Sound of Music. Italian, American English, French, Chinese language and Swiss German could be heard on the streets. The motels are full, there are queues to get into eating places.
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The well-known mountain group of the Dolomites belongs to 5 Italian provinces, together with South Tyrol (Picture: Domenico Convertini)
In fact, if German is spoken in South Tyrol it’s not simply because vacationers from Zurich and Munich prefer to eat the native strudel or go snowboarding within the Gardena valley: greater than two-thirds of the inhabitants communicate German as their mom tongue as a result of the province was a part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire till the tip of the First World Struggle. At this time, solely the capital Bolzano and some different cities have an Italian-speaking majority.
In line with an area joke, South Tyrol is ideal as a result of you may eat in addition to in Italy however the administration could be very German-style: the province enjoys a excessive diploma of autonomy, and its governor is a type of ‘mini-prime minister’.
However clouds appear to be gathering over this mountainous dreamland.
South Tyrol is a sufferer of its personal success, particularly with vacationers. In 2022 there have been nearly eight million vacationer arrivals, whereas the native inhabitants is half 1,000,000. “I’ve been coming right here each winter for 20 years, and there are extra vacationers each time,” complains Angela, a retiree from a small city close to Venice. Her 30-year-old son is along with her and he nods. The booming variety of guests, a lot of them high-income, has contributed to creating the province the most costly in Italy.
“In South Tyrol salaries are Italian, however costs are Swiss,” says Paul Köllensperger, chief of the centre-left Staff Okay motion, an area opposition get together. “I’m wondering why our province nonetheless stands out in Italy’s high quality of life rankings. The reality is that you simply want some huge cash to stay properly right here; somebody with a mean wage would not stay properly right here, lives badly — or would not stay right here in any respect.”
Grocery purchasing is dearer right here than in different components of northern Italy. Rents are very excessive and home costs are sky-high.
In line with Oskar Peterlini, a college professor and a former native politician, “there are lots of jobs right here, however staff can’t discover inexpensive lodging. Resorts needs to be taxed and rents de-taxed, however the pro-tourism foyer could be very sturdy right here”. Peterlini admits that tourism has “modified life for the higher on this as soon as poor province… my mom starved throughout the battle. South Tyrol has finished a very good job with tourism, possibly too good”.
There’s a college in Bolzano, however excessive rents deter many younger folks from learning there. Alexander von Walther, president of the South Tyrolean College Affiliation, is from Bolzano however research legislation in Innsbruck, within the Austrian Tyrol, some 120km north.
“I’ve heard of individuals in Bolzano asking as a lot as €700€ or €800 for a room in a flat, costs similar to these in Munich or Milan,” he says. “Innsbruck is cheaper than Bolzano, so it was simple for me to search out lodging there. Lots of those that go to check in Innsbruck do not come again right here to South Tyrol after commencement as a result of they’re petrified of the housing drawback”.
In line with the Chamber of Commerce of Bolzano, 1,000 folks beneath the age of 30 to migrate yearly, primarily to Austria, Germany and Switzerland. It is a rising pattern that has elevated fivefold within the final decade; based on the identical supply, solely 15-20 % of emigrants return, on common after 4 years.
New social divides, new alliances
“In Bolzano, we lack medical doctors, nurses, engineers, but additionally public transport drivers, and so forth.,” says Stefano Fattor, councillor for mobility and housing of the municipality, and a member of the centre-left Democratic Celebration. “The housing emergency is our primary drawback, not just for the poor but additionally for these with excessive salaries”. The brand new divide, he factors out, is not between courses, however between those that personal a house and those that don’t.
Extra housing needs to be constructed, however this isn’t taking place. In line with Fattor, “Bolzano has a really excessive inhabitants density: 102,000 folks stay in 7.8km2. Town is surrounded by 12km2 of intensive agricultural land, however you may’t construct there, it is a taboo for provincial politicians who’ve turned farmers into an untouchable caste”.
Tourism will not be the one pillar of the South Tyrolean financial system: agriculture is important. It brings votes and creates wealth, exporting apples, cheese and advantageous wines throughout Europe.
However South Tyrol can also be a sufferer of its personal success in one other sense. Till 40 years in the past there have been tensions between the German-speaking majority and the Italian-speaking minority, there have been even acts of terrorism: South Tyroleans had not forgotten the abuses in opposition to German audio system throughout the fascist dictatorship.
At this time, relations between the 2 linguistic teams have improved so much, and the Christian Democrat get together that governs the province, the Südtiroler Volkspartei, which received the final native elections however lacks the seats to control alone, is contemplating forming the brand new native authorities not solely with the rightwing populist League get together of Matteo Salvini, but additionally with Brothers of Italy, the ultra-nationalist get together led by prime minister Giorgia Meloni.
For a lot of of their fellow residents, an alliance with a celebration inheritor to the post-fascist Italian Social Motion is unacceptable and (very quiet) rallies are going down within the tidy squares of Bolzano. Researchers, college professors and ladies’s teams are writing outraged open letters.
“Companies, particularly farmers, like a really rightwing native authorities as a result of they are often fairly certain that their privileges and pursuits is not going to be touched. However those that come from the world of tradition and activism, or who care about sustainability, are rebelling,” says Köllensperger.
Maybe South Tyrol will not be such a dreamland in any case.
