Basic objectives
Partnership – Presentation of the Main Partner regions
Autonomous Province of Bolzano/Bozen
Provincia autonoma di Bolzano - Alto Adige
Autonome Provinz Bozen - Südtirol
Landhaus 1, via Crispi, 3
39100 Bolzano
ITALY
www.provincia.bz.it
South Tyrol (in Italian Provincia autonoma di Bolzano - Alto Adige, in German Autonome Provinz Bozen - Südtirol) is an autonomous province of Italy. The capital of the province is Bolzano / Bozen. It has an area of 7,400 km² and a total population of 476,023 (year 2004).
The province is officially trilingual (Italian, German and Ladin). The main ethnic groups are German-speakers (69.15%) and Italian-speakers (26.47%), with a small minority speaking the Ladin language (4.37%).
The province is located in the north of Italy, bordering on Austria (north), the Italian region Veneto (east), the Italian region Lombardy (west) and Switzerland (short length of the border in the west of the province).
Most of the territory of the province is occupied by mountains.
Bolzano / Bozen is one of the richest cities in Italy and enjoys a very high quality of life, ranking consistently among the top cities nationwide. The city thrives on high-quality intensive agriculture (including wine, fruit and dairy products) and advanced services.
Because of its particular location, the province is the main point of transits between Italy and central-eastern Europe: There are the passageways of Brennero with the highway and railway leading to Austria; of Dobbiaco leading again to Austria and of Resia connecting with Austria and Switzerland.
Since the foundation of the European Community in 1951 and 1957 the Common Agricultural Policy has been one of the most important aims of South Tyrol.
The province belongs to the founder members of the Alpine group ARGE-ALP (1972) and participates in the group of European frontier regions.
Projects with an innovative and cross-border approach have been or will be carried out within the framework of Community programmes. Mention should be made here in the first place of LEADER, which carries out projects relating to the development of rural areas, and INTERREG, through which the European Commission aims to promote cross-border and interregional co-operation in as many fields as possible.
Stand: 11.10.2007
