In 12 trips
City
Vipiteno, Italy
Notes
driving directions from Schuchtern: 585 km – about 5 hours 25 mins
arrive in the afternoon, visit castle in am, drive to Monte San Savino
stay at:
http://en.venere.com/hotels_vipiteno/
Reifenstein Castle, Italy
For an incredibly medieval kick in the pants, get off the freeway one hour south of Innsbruck at the Italian town of Vipiteno (called "Sterzing" by residents who prefer German). With her time-pocked sister just opposite, Reifenstein bottled up this strategic valley leading to the easiest way to cross the Alps.
Reifenstein offers castle connoisseurs the best-preserved original medieval castle interior I've ever seen. The lady who calls the castle home, Frau Blanc, takes groups through in Italian, German, and un poco di inglese. You'll discover the mossy past as she explains how the cistern collected water, how drunken lords managed to get their keys into the keyholes, and how prisoners were left to rot in the dungeon (you'll look down the typical only-way-out hole in the ceiling). In the only surviving original knights' sleeping quarters (rough-hewn plank boxes lined with hay), you'll see how knights spent their nights. Lancelot would cry a lot.
The amazing little fortified town of Glurns hunkers down about an hour west of Reifenstein Castle (on the high road to Lake Como). Glurns still lives within its square wall on the Adige River, with a church belltower that has a thing about ringing, and real farms, rather than boutiques, filling the town courtyards.
Reifenstein
For one of Europe's most intimate looks at medieval castle life, let the friendly lady of Reifenstein (Frau Blanc) show you around her wonderfully preserved castle. She leads tours on the hour, in Italian and German, squeezing in whatever English she can (€5, open Easter-Oct; tours Sat-Thu at 10:30, 14:00, and 15:00; mid-July-mid-Sept also at 16:00, closed Fri, picnic spot at drawbridge, tel. 0472-765-879).
arrive in the afternoon, visit castle in am, drive to Monte San Savino
stay at:
http://en.venere.com/hotels_vipiteno/
Reifenstein Castle, Italy
For an incredibly medieval kick in the pants, get off the freeway one hour south of Innsbruck at the Italian town of Vipiteno (called "Sterzing" by residents who prefer German). With her time-pocked sister just opposite, Reifenstein bottled up this strategic valley leading to the easiest way to cross the Alps.
Reifenstein offers castle connoisseurs the best-preserved original medieval castle interior I've ever seen. The lady who calls the castle home, Frau Blanc, takes groups through in Italian, German, and un poco di inglese. You'll discover the mossy past as she explains how the cistern collected water, how drunken lords managed to get their keys into the keyholes, and how prisoners were left to rot in the dungeon (you'll look down the typical only-way-out hole in the ceiling). In the only surviving original knights' sleeping quarters (rough-hewn plank boxes lined with hay), you'll see how knights spent their nights. Lancelot would cry a lot.
The amazing little fortified town of Glurns hunkers down about an hour west of Reifenstein Castle (on the high road to Lake Como). Glurns still lives within its square wall on the Adige River, with a church belltower that has a thing about ringing, and real farms, rather than boutiques, filling the town courtyards.
Reifenstein
For one of Europe's most intimate looks at medieval castle life, let the friendly lady of Reifenstein (Frau Blanc) show you around her wonderfully preserved castle. She leads tours on the hour, in Italian and German, squeezing in whatever English she can (€5, open Easter-Oct; tours Sat-Thu at 10:30, 14:00, and 15:00; mid-July-mid-Sept also at 16:00, closed Fri, picnic spot at drawbridge, tel. 0472-765-879).