Supriya Ghosh (Editor)

Ritten

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Country
  
Italy

Elevation
  
1,154 m (3,786 ft)

Province
  
South Tyrol

Province / Metropolitan city
  
South Tyrol (BZ)

Local time
  
Thursday 9:40 PM

Ritten wwwploerrcomimagesrittenrittenjpg

Region
  
Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol

Frazioni
  
Oberinn (Auna di Sopra), Unterinn (Auna di Sotto), Atzwang (Campodazzo), Klobenstein (Collalbo), Lengmoos (Longomoso), Lengstein (Longostagno), Gissmann (Madonnina), Mittelberg (Monte di Mezzo), Rotwand (Pietrarossa), Oberbozen (Soprabolzano), Signat (Signato), Sill, Wangen (Vanga)

Demonym(s)
  
German: Rittner Italian: renonesi

Weather
  
14°C, Wind SE at 8 km/h, 41% Humidity

Points of interest
  
Runkelstein Castle, Earth pyramids of Ritten, Piramidi di terra Soprabolzano, Funivie Corno Renon (S, Castel Novale

Piramidi di terra erdpyramiden


Ritten ( [ˈrɪtn̩]; Italian: Renon [reˈnon]) is a comune (municipality) in South Tyrol in northern Italy.

Contents

Map of Ritten, Province of Bolzano - South Tyrol, Italy

Territory

The 111-square-kilometre (43 sq mi) community is named after the high plateau, elevation 1,100 to 1,400 metres (3,600 to 4,600 ft), the Ritten or the Renon, on which most of the villages are located. The plateau forms the southeast tip of the Sarntal Alps mountain range and is located between, and on average 800 metres (2,600 ft) above the rivers Eisack and Talfer. Ritten lies directly northeast of Bolzano, settled on the "meeting point" of the above rivers.

Ritten borders the following municipalities: Barbian, Bolzano, Kastelruth, Karneid, Völs, Jenesien, Sarntal and Villanders.

As of 30 November 2010, Ritten had a population of 7,597.

There are 17 fraziones (subdivisions, usually consisting of one or a few villages and hamlets). These include the central village Klobenstein (Collalbo), in which the townhall is located, as well as Atzwang (Campodazzo), Gissmann (Madonnina), Lengmoos (Longomoso), Lengstein (Longostagno), Mittelberg (Monte di Mezzo), Oberbozen (Soprabolzano), Oberinn (Auna di Sopra), Rotwand (Pietrarossa), Siffian (Siffiano), Signat (Signato), Sill (Castel Novale), Unterinn (Auna di Sotto), Wangen (Vanga), and Wolfsgruben (Costalovara).

Of these only Atzwang and Sill are not located on the plateau, but on the rivers Eisack and Talfer, respectively.

History

The mountain ridge is first mentioned in AD 870 as "Mons Ritanus". Already around 1200 a mountain inn was established on the plateau. In 1237 Runkelstein Castle was built on a rocky spur in Ritten territory by the lords of Wangen.

The Tyrolean patriotic hero Peter Mayr (1767–1810), involved in the rebellion against Napoleon's forces that occupied Tyrol, was born in the village of Siffian in Ritten.

From the 17th century Ritten has been a popular summer destination for citizens of Bolzano, since the air is considerably cooler on the plateau. Ritten is connected with Bolzano with a provincial road and with a cableway from Oberbozen, the longest cableway of the world in one track, about 4 kilometres (2.5 mi) long and 12 minutes to travel. This cableway replaced in 1960 the previous rack railway, built in 1907. The railway is still in function on the mountain side between Maria Himmelfahrt and Klobenstein.

Coat of arms

The official community coat of arms consists of gules two chevrons embowed argent; it is the arms of the Lords of Zwingenstein who ruled the village from their castle until 1531. The emblem was adopted in 1967.

Main sights

  • Near Oberbozen and Lengstein are several groups of fairy chimneys (earth pyramids).
  • Klobenstein has a 1,198-metre (3,930 ft) high-elevation outdoor artificial ice track, the Arena Ritten or Ritten Kunsteisbahn, at which the 2007 and 2011 European Speed Skating Championships and many World Cup events have been held.
  • Economy

    The candy company Loacker is based in Ritten.

    Linguistic distribution

    According to the 2011 census, 95.20% of the population speak German, 4.55% Italian and 0.25% Ladin as first language.

    References

    Ritten Wikipedia