Merano Events

Merano WineFestival

In early November the Kurhaus fills with several hundred producers for one of the most selective wine events in Italy, running since 1992. It takes over the town for four days and rooms go months ahead.

Traubenfest

The grape festival, held since 1886, marks the harvest in October with a procession of decorated floats, bands and a great deal of Schiava. It is the oldest festival in the town and remains a local one.

Gran Premio Merano

A steeplechase run each autumn at the town racecourse, well known across Europe and one of the few reasons a crowd of Italians comes to Merano in September.

The Christmas market

From late November along the Passer, smaller than Bolzano's and arranged along the river rather than in a square, which makes it easier to walk through and harder to get stuck in.

Asfaltart

A street-theatre festival in summer that takes over the promenades and the old town for several days, and one of the few times the town is loud.

Kurkonzerte and the Thursday market

Band concerts in the pavilion by the river run through the season as they have since the nineteenth century, and the Thursday market fills the streets north of the centre with the valley's produce. Both are ordinary and both are the town at its most itself.

The cure season

Not an event but the town's underlying calendar: the spa and hotel season runs from March to November, and a good part of Merano shuts quietly in the weeks either side of it.