Der globale Ort

Franzensfeste/Fortezza: Festung, Dorf, Metapher

Abstract

The small village of Fortezza/Franzensfeste is located in the middle of the Alps, along the Brennero road, the most important route to connect Northern and Southern Europe. The 900-people-village (2011) got its name from the giant building of a fortress, erected between 1833 and 1838 to protect the important alpine passage, which had revealed its strategic role during the Wars of the Austrian Empire in the years from 1797 to 1809. The enormous construction of the Fortress was completely unnecessary and the fortress has never been involved in any military operation. At the time of the building of the fortress the village of Franzenfeste did not exist. This stretch of the valley had only a few settlements. There were only a couple of farmsteads near the train station that made a living of poor agriculture, and a few inns. The village came into existence only later, with the construction of the railway and the train station in 1867 and with the immigration of workers and poor families from Vorarlberg and Tyrol. The population of Franzensfeste/Fortezza grew rapidly after 1867, but fluctuated because of constant immigration and emigration. When the village and the entire region of Southern Tyrol were under the rule of Austria, railway workers and employees were politically mostly engaged in the Social Democratic Party, which created conflicts with the mostly conservative authorities. After the annexation of Southern Tyrol by the Italian Monarchy in 1919, things changed rapidly: Austrians left Fortezza – which is since then the official name – and Italians quickly became the majority. Fascism and World War II left their traces in Fortezza, which after 1945 experienced a boom period fuelled by transport and tourism. After 1995, when in the context of the European Unification Fortezza lost its status as a control area, the village fell into economic depression. Today, the place has gained new importance as the starting point for a great tunnel under the Brenner pass. Furthermore, the population is changing with the influx of immigrants. Constant instability and fluctuating population are the trademark of the village, with its own traces of modernity.