Nalles/Nals is mentioned in the old annals for the first time in 830AD, with reference to the Monastery of St. Gallen in Switzerland. In reality, the original settlement near the Etsch River dates much further back. A section of the ancient Roman trade route, the Via Claudia Augusta, passes the remnants of two nearby silver mines near Nalles. Its original name signified “harbour” and “pier”, probably because the earliest navigation route along the Etsch River began there.
Nowadays, the
Nalles municipality starts at the bottom of the valley at 300 m stretching up to an elevation of over 1,000 m all the way to Sirmiano/Sirmian and Sirmiano di Sopra/Obersirmian.
Still exuding its old rural charm, the village of Nalles is strategically positioned between the
spa town of Merano/Meran and
Bolzano/Bozen, the regional capital. Trade, tourism, viticulture and gastronomy all prosper in and around the “Rose Village”. A number of small
shops in Nalles serve as outlets for high-quality local arts and crafts and farm produce. The mountain farms of Sirmiano di Sopra/ are mainly centered around animal husbandry, forestry and the cultivation of berries. From Sirmiano, where fruit farming is the main economic activity, there are spellbinding mountain panoramas.