Passeggiata d'Inverno e d'Estate lungo il Passirio (con Kurpromenade e Gilfpromenade)

On both banks of the Passer, Merano keeps a ring of historic walks planned for the cure guests of 150 years ago. The sunny winter promenade and shaded summer promenade trace both banks of the Passer, connecting the Wandelhalle, Gilf gorge and Sissi memorial.

Why it matters

These riverbank walks were the machinery of Merano's spa age: daily circuits where visitors took the air under medical supervision, and the town's fame rested on how agreeable the hour outside felt. Created about 150 years ago, the promenades connect the Kurhaus, the old town, the Gilf gorge and the bronze memorial to Empress Elisabeth. Because the two banks were planned as complements, one sunny and wind-protected for the cold season, one cool and shaded against summer heat, the ring works in every month of the year.

What to notice

The northern winter promenade links the Post Bridge, the Kurpromenade and the Wandelhalle, an Art Nouveau hall initiated by Franz Tappeiner and used for events since 1889; its walls carry paintings including works by Franz Lenhart. The seventeenth-century Stone Bridge and the older Römerbrücke cross the river. Near the northern end of the winter promenade stands a larger-than-life Atlas holding his burden above the Gilf gorge, where spring snowmelt swells the current. The Gilfpromenade follows the gorge past benches built into the rock above the water. On the shaded southern bank, Sissipark and the Post Bridge park frame a statue of Empress Elisabeth, among Merano's most photographed monuments.

Context and history

The promenade system grew with the resort: as cure doctors prescribed walking routines, the city equipped both banks so weather would never cancel the regimen. The winter promenade was laid out for the cold months on the sunny side; its continuation west through the Kurpromenade tied the walk to the Kurhaus, the social headquarters of the spa. The summer promenade follows the shaded southern bank, while the Gilfpromenade extends the walkway north to the gorge where the valley narrows. Together with the Tappeiner Promenade on the slope above, they formed the complete therapeutic landscape that made Merano's reputation.