BOLZANO (formerly BOTZEN), provincial capital of Venezia Tridentina, Italy, at the confluence of Talavera and Isarco, above the junction of the latter with the Adige. It lies at a height of 869ft., on the Brenner railway, 58m. S. of that pass and 35m. N. of Trento. Pop. (1931) 22,298 (town), 40,759 (commune). BoI zano boasts of a fine Gothic 14th and 15th century cathedral. The famous Minnesdnger, Walther von der Vogelweide, according to some accounts, was born (c. at a farm above Ponte all'Isarco, 14m. to the north. Situated at the junction of the Brenner route from Germany to Italy with that from Switzerland down the Upper Adige valley, Bolzano has always had very con siderable transit trade (it has four large fairs annually). There are railways to Mendola, Collalbo and Merano.
The pops Drusi (probably over the Adige just below Bolzano) is mentioned in the 4th century by the Peutinger Table. In the 7th to 8th centuries Bolzano was held by Bavarian counts. In 7, with the rest of the diocese of Trent, it was given by emperor Conrad II. to the bishop of Trent. From io28 the local counts were vassals of the bishops, but after Tirol fell to the Habsburgs (1363) their power grew at the expense of that of the bishops. In 1381 Leopold granted the privilege of a town council; in 1462 the bishops resigned all jurisdiction to the Habs burgs and it was merged with the Tirol till 1918.