Timeline of Bolzano

The following is a timeline of the history of the city of Bolzano/Bozen in the Trentino-South Tyrol region of Italy.

This is a dynamic list and may never be able to satisfy particular standards for completeness. You can help by editing the page to add missing items, with references to reliable sources.

Prior to 20th century

• 14 BC – A military settlement called "Pons Drusi" is founded by Romans. ^[1]
• 679 – Settlement and region ruled by the Duke of Bavaria ("comes Baiuvariorum, quem illi gravionem dicunt, qui regebat Bauzanum et reliqua castella"). ^[2]
• 769 – Tassilo III, Duke of Bavaria issues in Bolzano the foundation charter of the Innichen Abbey. ^[3]
• 996–1000 – Settlement called "in Pauzana valle, quae lingua Teutisca Pozana nuncupatur". ^[4]
• 1027 – Bozen county "given by the emperor Conrad II to the bishop of Trent." ^[5]
• 1170 – Likely birthplace nearby of Walther von der Vogelweide, a German lyrical poet. ^[5]
• 1170–80 ca. – The town is founded by the bishop of Trent. ^[6]
• 1195 – The town's parson Rudolf is mentioned. ^[6]
• 1237 – Franciscan Friary active. ^[7]
• 1272 – Heilig-Geist-Spital  [ de ] (hospital) established.
• 1363 – Habsburg Rudolf IV, Duke of Austria in power. ^{[8] [5]}
• 1437 – The borough rights (Stadtrecht) issued. ^[9]
• 1442 – Town council established by King Frederick III. ^[10]
• 1443 and 1483 – Two great town fires destroy large parts of the inner city. ^[11]
• 1472 – The Bozner Stadtbuch (Liber civitatis) instituted by mayor Konrad Lerhueber as the towns official register of legal acts. ^[12]
• 1519 – The openwork spire of the Parish church (now Cathedral) finished by the stonemasons Burkhard Engelberg and Hans Lutz von Schussenried. ^[13]
• 1551 – The Bozner Bürgerbuch, a register of the new citizens, instituted.
• 1635 – Merkantilmagistrat  [ de ] established. ^[10]
• 1750 – Henry of Bolzano, a local layman of the early 14th century, also patron of Treviso, beatified by pope Benedict XIV.
• 1805 – Town becomes part of the Kingdom of Bavaria, first Civic Theatre established.
• 1810 – Town becomes part of French client Kingdom of Italy. ^[14]
• 1813 – Town becomes part of Austria again. ^[14]
• 1837 – Population: 10,499.^(de)
• 1842 – Bozner Wochenblatt  [ de ] newspaper begins publication.
• 1845 – Muri-Gries Abbey has been founded, as an offshoot of the former Swiss Muri abbey in Aargau.
• 1859 – Brenner Railway (Verona-Bozen) begins operating; Bozen railway station opens.
• 1861 – 10 November: Bozner Lichtfest  [ de ] held.
• 1862 – Turnverein Bozen 1862  [ de ] (sport club) formed.
• 1867 – Brenner Railway (Innsbruck-Bozen) begins operating. ^[15]
• 1874 – Cimitero militare austro-ungarico di Bolzano  [ it ] (Austro-Hungarian war cemetery) established.
• 1882 – Der Tiroler newspaper begins publication.
• 1889 – Walther von der Vogelweide monument  [ de ] erected in the Waltherplatz  [ de ]. ^[5]
• 1894 – Bozner Nachrichten  [ de ] newspaper begins publication.
• 1895 – Julius Perathoner becomes mayor.
• 1898 – Überetsch Railway begins operating.
• 1900 – Population: 23,521.^(de)

20th century

• 1907 – Virglbahn  [ de ] (funicular) and Rittnerbahn (railway) begin operating.
• 1909 – Bolzano Tramway begins operating.
• 1912 – Guntschnabahn  [ de ] (funicular) begins operating.
• 1915 – Tiroler Soldaten-Zeitung newspaper begins publication. ^[16]
• 1918
  • The new Civic Theatre (Stadttheater) opens.
  • Italian forces take South Tyrol region during World War I and rename it as "Alto Adige" ^[8]
• 1921 – 24 April: Fascist unrest (Bloody Sunday).
• 1922 – 1–2 October: Fascist March on Bolzano  [ it ] occurs.
• 1923
  • Bolzano becomes part of the Province of Trento. ^[8]
  • Italianization of South Tyrol begins. ^[8]
• 1925 – German-language daily newspapers are banned.
• 1925 – 2 November: Gries  [ it ] becomes part of Bolzano.
• 1926
  • Bolzano Airport opens.
  • Dolomiten newspaper in publication. ^[17]
• 1927 – The Province of Bolzano established and separated from the Trento Province.
• 1928 – The Fascist Bolzano Victory Monument inaugurated. ^[18]
• 1930 – Stadio Druso (stadium) opens.
• 1931 – Associazione Calcio Bolzano (football club) formed.
• 1933 – HC Bolzano (ice hockey club) formed.
• 1936 – Population: 45,505.^(de)
• 1936 – The today's Corso della Libertà-Freiheitsstraße (Liberty Avenue), a major civic boulevard adorned by buildings in monumentalist style, has been created by the fascist regime (then called Corso IX Maggio). ^[19]
• 1939–40 – The South Tyrol Option Agreement leads to the emigration of parts of the german-speaking population into the Third Reich.
• 1939–42 – The local Casa del Fascio built displaying a monumental Mussolini basrelief, recontextualized in 2017. ^[18]
• 1943
  • September: South Tyrol region annexed by Germany; Bolzano becomes part of the Nazi German Operationszone Alpenvorland (district). ^[8]
  • Allied air raids on Bolzano begin.
• 1944 – Bolzano Transit Camp begins operating.
• 1945 – Town liberated by allied forces from the nazifascist occupational forces on May 4
  • December: "Official sanction of the German language" begins. ^[8]
  • South Tyrolean People's Party headquartered in Bolzano. ^[8]
  • Dolomiten and Alto Adige newspapers begin publication. ^[17]
• 1948
  • Bolzano becomes part of the newly formed Trentino-Alto Adige province. ^[15]
  • November: Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol regional election, 1948 held.
  • Bolzano Tramway closes.
• 1950 – Teatro Stabile di Bolzano  [ it ] (theatre) founded.
• 1951 – Population: 70,898.^(de)
• 1960 – Rai Südtirol (radio) begins broadcasting.
• 1961 – Night of fire happened.
• 1964 – Roman Catholic Diocese of Bolzano-Brixen established. ^[20]
• 1966 – Rai Südtirol (TV channel) begins broadcasting.
• 1967 – Haus der Kultur „Walther von der Vogelweide“ (Waltherhaus), a theatre and culture venue inaugurated.
• 1968 – Giancarlo Bolognini  [ it ] becomes mayor.
• 1971 – Population: 105,757.^(de)
• 1972 – The Second Autonomy Statute implements measures of local self-government. ^[21]
• 1974 – F.C. Südtirol (football club) formed.
• 1977 – Radio Tandem begins broadcasting.
• 1985 – Museion – Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art (museum) founded.
• 1988 – Mattino dell'Alto Adige newspaper begins publication. ^[17]
• 1992 – Eurac Research (European Academy Bozen-Bolzano), a transdisciplinary research centre, founded.
• 1995
  • Giovanni Salghetti Drioli  [ it ] becomes mayor.
  • Regional Civic Network of South Tyrol (website) launched.
• 1996
  • Neue Südtiroler Tageszeitung (newspaper) begins publication.
  • F.C. Bolzano 1996 (football club) formed.
• 1997 – Free University of Bozen-Bolzano founded.
• 1998
  • South Tyrol Museum of Archaeology established.
  • Merkantilmuseum  [ de ] opens.
• 1999 – Teatro comunale (Bolzano)  [ it ] (theatre) opens.

21st century

• 2003 – Corriere dell'Alto Adige  [ it ] newspaper begins publication.
• 2005 – Luigi Spagnolli becomes mayor. ^[22]
• 2008 – New Museion (museum of contemporary arts) building opens.
• 2013
  • October: Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol provincial elections held.
  • University's Zentrum für Regionalgeschichte  [ de ] (regional history institute) founded.
  • Population: 103,891. ^[23]
• 2014 – BZ ’18–’45: one monument, one city, two dictatorships, a permanent exhibition within the fascist Monument to Victory is inaugurated. ^[24]
• 2015 – The so-called Stolpersteine, Holocaust victims commemorative markers, are laid out. ^[25]
• 2016 – Local election  [ it ] held; Renzo Caramaschi becomes mayor.
• 2017 – The former Casa del Fascio historicized. ^{[18] [26]}
• 2018 – NOI Techpark Südtirol/Alto Adige, a large science and technology park within the former industrial zone, opens.
• 2019 – WaltherPark, a large urban renewal project designed by David Chipperfield starts.
• 2021 – The town is granted the annual City of Memory status by the Interior Ministry.
• 2024 – After the Benko Group cracked, the Bavarian Schoeller Group takes over the WaltherPark construction project.
• 2025 – The Waltherpark shopping centre and district opens.

See also

• Bolzano history
• History of Bolzano  [ de ]
• List of mayors of Bolzano
• Civic Archives in Bozen-Bolzano (city archives)
• Bolzano State Archives  [ de ]
• List of Stolpersteine in Bolzano  [ de ] (Holocaust victims commemorative markers)
• History of South Tyrol region
• Raetia, ancient Roman province of which Bauzanum was part

Timelines of other cities in the macroregion of Northeast Italy:^(it)

• Emilia-Romagna region: Timeline of Bologna; Ferrara; Forlì; Modena; Parma; Piacenza; Ravenna; Reggio Emilia; Rimini
• Friuli-Venezia Giulia region: Timeline of Trieste
• Trentino-South Tyrol region: Timeline of Trento
• Veneto region: Timeline of Padua; Treviso; Venice; Verona, Vicenza

References

1. History of Bolzano
2. Paulus Diaconus, Hist. Lang. V. 36.
3. Martin Bitschnau; Hannes Obermair (2009). Tiroler Urkundenbuch, II. Abteilung: Die Urkunden zur Geschichte des Inn-, Eisack- und Pustertals. Vol. 1. Innsbruck: Universitätsverlag Wagner. pp. 30–1, no. 50. ISBN   978-3-7030-0469-8.
4. Josef Widemann (1943). Die Traditionen des Hochstifts Regensburg und des Klosters St. Emmeram (Quellen und Erörterungen zur bayerischen und deutschen Geschichte, NF 8). Munich: C.H. Beck, pp. 216–7, no. 259; Franz Huter (1937). Tiroler Urkundenbuch.I.1. Innsbruck: Wagner, no. 33.
5. Britannica 1910.
6. Obermair 1995.
7. "Beni culturali" (in Italian and German). Provincia autonoma di Bolzano. Retrieved 26 January 2017.
8. Domenico 2002.
9. Obermair 2005-08, Vol II, pp. 79–83.
10. "La storia di Bolzano in breve" (in Italian and German). Città di Bolzano. Retrieved 27 January 2017.
11. Obermair 2005-08, no. 1017 and 1207.
12. Obermair 2005-08, p. 149, no. 1132.
13. Franz Bischoff (1999). „Der vilkunstreiche Architector und der Statt Augspurg Wercke Meister“. Burkhard Engelberg und die süddeutsche Architektur um 1500: Anmerkungen zur sozialen Stellung und Arbeitsweise spätgotischer Steinmetzen und Werkmeister. Augsburg: Wissner. (Schwäbische Geschichtsquellen und Forschungen 18). ISBN   3-89639-157-7
14. "Bolzano". Oxford Art Online . 2003. doi:10.1093/gao/9781884446054.article.T009766. Retrieved 26 January 2017
15. Paula Sutter Fichtner (2009). Historical Dictionary of Austria. USA: Scarecrow Press. ISBN   978-0-8108-6310-1.
16. "ANNO (Austrian Newspapers Online)" (in German). Vienna: Austrian National Library. Retrieved 26 January 2017
17. "Italy". Western Europe. Regional Surveys of the World (5th ed.). Europa Publications. 2003. ISBN   978-1-85743-152-0.
18. Obermair 2017.
19. Lavori in Corso 2020.
20. "Chronology of Catholic Dioceses: Italy". Norway: Roman Catholic Diocese of Oslo . Retrieved 26 January 2017.
21. André Lecours (2025). South Tyrol. From Irredentism and Secessionism to Autonomy. In: Nationalism, Secessionism, and Autonomy. Oxford University Press, Oxford. ISBN   978-0-19-284675-4, pp. 121–42.
22. "I borgomastri/sindaci di Bolzano dal 1449 fino ad oggi" (in Italian and German). Città di Bolzano. Retrieved 26 January 2017.
23. "Resident Population". Demo-Geodemo. Istituto Nazionale di Statistica . Retrieved 26 January 2017. Bolzano/Bozen
24. Michielli-Obermair 2016.
25. Mayr-Obermair 2014.
26. Carlo Invernizzi-Accetti, A small Italian town can teach the world how to defuse controversial monuments . The Guardian, December 6, 2017.

This article incorporates information from the Italian Wikipedia and German Wikipedia.

Bibliography

in English

• "Botzen". Chambers's Encyclopaedia. London. 1901. hdl:2027/njp.32101065312876.
• Coolidge, William Augustus Brevoort (1910). "Botzen"  . Encyclopædia Britannica . Vol. 4 (11th ed.). p. 311.
• "Botzen", Austria-Hungary (11th ed.), Leipzig: Karl Baedeker, 1911, pp. 207–10
• Roy Domenico (2002). "Trentino-Alto Adige: Bolzano". Regions of Italy: a Reference Guide to History and Culture. Greenwood. pp. 301–4. ISBN   0313307334.
• Hannes Obermair [in German] (2014). "Use of Records in Medieval Towns: The Case of Bolzano, South Tyrol". In Marco Mostert; Anna Adamska (eds.). Writing and the Administration of Medieval Towns. Utrecht Studies in Medieval Literacy. Turnhout: Brepols. ISBN   978-2-503-54959-0.
• Obermair, Hannes (2017), "Monuments and the City—an almost inextricable entanglement", in Matthias Fink; et al. (eds.), Multiple Identitäten in einer "glokalen Welt"—Identità multiple in un "mondo glocale"—Multiple identities in a "glocal world", Bozen-Bolzano: Eurac Research, pp. 88–99, ISBN   978-88-98857-35-7

in German

Further information (in German): Bibliography of the history of Bozen  ^{[ de ]}

• Bozner Chronik  [ de ] (written in 14th century)
• Beda Weber (1849). Stadt Bozen und ihre Umgebungen (in German). Bozen: Eberle.
• Leopold Kastner, ed. (1867). "Bozen". Handels- und Gewerbe-Adressbuch des österreichischen Kaiserstaates. Vienna: Beck'sche Universitätsbuchhandlung.
• Eduard Gottlieb Amthor [in German] (1872). Bozen und Umgebung (in German). Gera.
• "Bozen". Brockhaus' Konversations-Lexikon (in German). Vol. 3 (14th ed.). Leipzig: Brockhaus. 1896. hdl:2027/njp.32101064064452.
• Mayr, Sabine; Obermair, Hannes (2014). "Sprechen über den Holocaust. Die jüdischen Opfer in Bozen — eine vorläufige Bilanz". Der Schlern . 88,3, pp. 4–36. ISSN   0036-6145.
• Obermair, Hannes (1995), "Kirche und Stadtentstehung. Die Pfarrkirche Bozen im Hochmittelalter (11.–13. Jahrhundert)", in Der Schlern (ed.), Zeitschrift für Südtiroler Landeskunde, vol. 69, Bozen-Bolzano: Athesia, pp. 449–74.
• Hannes Obermair (2005–2008). Bozen Süd – Bolzano Nord: Schriftlichkeit und urkundliche Überlieferung der Stadt Bozen bis 1500 (2 volumes) (in German). Bozen-Bolzano. ISBN   978-88-901870-1-8.
• Sabrina Michielli, Hannes Obermair (2016). BZ '18–'45: ein Denkmal, eine Stadt, zwei Diktaturen. Begleitband zur Dokumentations-Ausstellung im Bozener Siegesdenkmal. Vienna-Bozen/Bolzano: Folio Verlag. ISBN   978-3-85256-713-6.

in Italian

• "Bolzano", Enciclopedia Italiana (Treccani) (in Italian), 1930
• Bolzano fra i Tirolo e gli Asburgo / Bozen von den Grafen von Tirol bis zu den Habsburgern (in Italian and German). Civic Archives in Bozen-Bolzano. 1999.
• Heiss, Hans; Obermair, Hannes (2014). "Culture della memoria in contrasto. L'esempio della città di Bolzano-Bozen dal 2000 al 2010". In Obermair, Hannes (ed.). Erinnerungskulturen des 20. Jahrhunderts im Vergleich—Culture della memoria del novecento a confronto. Città di Bolzano. pp. 19–34. ISBN   978-88-907060-9-7.
• Hannes Obermair; Fabrizio Miori; Maurizio Pacchiani (2020). Lavori in Corso – Die Bozner Freiheitsstraße (in Italian and German). La Fabbrica del Tempo–Die Zeitfabrik. ISBN   978-88-943205-2-7.

External links

• Items related to Bolzano, various dates (via Europeana)
• Items related to Bolzano, various dates (via Digital Public Library of America)