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tradition
Tradition and folklore still play a significant role in the every-day life of the town and its people and visitors to Merano greatly enjoy the weekly folklore evenings of singing and dancing with all the participants dressed in local Tirolese costume. Since the beginning of this century, the golden-coated Hafling horses from the little village of Avelengo or Hafling have competed against one another is a special race for amateur local riders which opens the horse-racing season on Easter Monday and in another race, later in autumn, to celebrate the Grape Harvest. Their riders, usually farmers or farmersâsons, all wear local costume, too. The celebrations for the Grape Harvest are always held on the second Sunday in October and include a procession through the town with bands, orchestras, decorated floats and lorries, folk dancing groups and displays of various traditional costumes.
history
The name of the town of Meran, once known as Mairania, made its first appearance in history in the year 857 but, as late as the thirteenth century we know that it was little more than a village at the foot of Mount St. Benedetto, precisely where the old town houses of Steinach now are. During the Middle Ages it was governed by the Bishops of Trento, a larger town to the south, and then, later, by the Counts of Tirol. It gradually assumed a greater political importance and became quite a busy centre, as can be seen from the large number of castles and manor houses still to be visited in the surrounding area.The counts of Tirol chose the town for their capital in 1317 but, on the death of the last member of the Tirol ruling family, the famous Margaret Maultasch, Meran was handed over to the Habsburg family. It gradually became less and less important until, in the fifteenth century, Innsbruck was named as the capital of Tirol. Even the Merano mint, where the wellknown âTirolâ coins had been minted in the past, was moved to Hall near Innsbruck and Meran was no longer the home of princes but just a small and insignificant country town, surrounded by Medieval walls.Meran first earned its reputation as a health spa resort in the 1830âs and its exceptionally mild climate, lovely surroundings and varied and lush vegetation all contributed to its development in this field. Members of European royal families, obility and aristocrats were in the habit of holidaying in Meran. The Austrian Empress, Elisabeth, for example, spent many happy times in the town an there is, in fact, a statue dedicated to her in one of the beautiful parks. Meran is still today a particularly pleasant holiday resort, attracting guests throughout the year, although spring and autumn are perhaps the busiest seasons. The mountains to the north of the town, some of which are over 3,000 metres high, help protect it from the cold winds and the orchard-covered Adige/Etsch river valley extends down towards the mild and sunny south.The Merano basin is an oasis of unusual Mediterranean plants and flowers and the soil has a certain natural radioactive content. The climate of the whole area has an obviously beneficial therapeutic effect and, even before the First World War, the Academy of Science in Vienna had done some research on the radioactive spring water. Later, in 1933, when the geologist prof. Trener discovered the springs at St. Vigilio and St. Martin the town really began to develope as a famous health spa.