It is almost naked, especially at the top. The Ritten, Bolzano's local mountain, is not very densely wooded. Wide, open alpine meadows spread out between Oberbozen and the Barbianer Alm - and offer a view of everything the surrounding mountains have to offer. And that would be a large part of the Dolomites with the Sciliar and Sella massifs, the Sassolungo, Sassopiatto and Sassopiatto di Putia, the Odle peaks, Catinaccio and Latemar. Plus the Brenta peaks to the south, the Grossglockner to the east and the Stubai Alps to the north.
The craggy Dolomite cliffs are covered in clouds as we tackle the final ascent to the summit of the Rittner Horn. The grass is high and strawy, bleached white by the long, hot summer. Valentin has ridden the Ritten countless times, from the front and from behind. His home town of Bolzano is at the front. He runs his Fink inn right in the centre. At the back is the Albergo Briol, the refuge of his mother Johanna and the place where he spent the summers of his childhood. We are more or less in between.
To get started, we first took the cable car from Bolzano up almost 1000 metres in altitude. The cabins ascend every four minutes, leaving the last houses of the city below, the vineyards at the foot of the Ritten and the earth pyramids - "the highest and most beautifully shaped in all of Europe", as we are assured - up to the high plateau of Oberbozen. From here to the Horn at 2261 metres, we still have 1200 metres to climb over a broad, wide mountain ridge, over which the South Tyrolean serenity has settled with the sun today.
There is surprisingly little going on. Most hikers choose the most leisurely way of conquering the summit and take the cable car via Klobenstein to the Schwarzseespitze at 2071 metres. They then have less than 200 metres of elevation gain to the Horn, and the ascent is gentle. There is obviously enough breath left to throw us the odd e-comment. It takes us out of the pleasantly quiet ride so far. We are surprised to realise that the motor on the bike is still causing reactions. Some are curious and interested, others are making cheeky fitness comments. Valentin smiles and frowns, in true South Tyrolean style.
On the flat summit, no tree or neighbouring mountain blocks the view of the Dolomites, the Sarntal Alps and the main Alpine ridge. Panoramic views in all directions. However, on the terrace of the Rittner-Horn-Haus, our gaze lingers on the impressive plate of dumplings being served at the neighbouring table. However, Valentin warns us to exercise restraint. The descent, he says, will be a little bumpy and a full belly could get in the way. And besides, we should save our hunger for Briol, because - how could it be otherwise - the best food is still at mum's.
We have no doubts about his knowledge of bikes or cuisine - after all, these are his two core competences. The 30-year-old is a restaurateur and president of the Tiroler Radler, a Bolzano bike club with a particularly strong downhill faction. This is also thanks to a certain Johannes von Klebelsberg, Valentin's younger brother. He is South Tyrol's best downhill racer and finished in the top 15 in the World Cup twice in the 2019 season. The 24-year-old, also known as "Denim Destroyer", is no longer a professional. Johannes now runs a Fink's branch in Munich as his main job, where he exclusively serves South Tyrolean dumplings. And over there, above the Pustertal valley, the Starkenfeldhütte.
When they were boys, the brothers carved trails along the ridge of the Ritten. The summer holidays in South Tyrol last three months - and Valentin and Johannes spent them in Briol setting up trails and jumps in the woods above Barbiano. Mum Johanna was well distracted by looking after her guests. "Don't expect a rustic Alpine Club hut or anything like that," said Valentin when the idea of the Ritten circuit with an overnight stay first came up. That's okay, we said. They're overcrowded anyway and we don't want to fight for hard campsites. For us, it's more about spending beautiful bike days and a special night on the mountain. "Briol is definitely special," Valentin assured us. We'll soon find out for ourselves - from now on, it's all downhill to the doorstep of the Albergo.
It's a brutal start to the steep climb number 4 directly at the summit house. Valentin happens to circle round a gentleman who was still joking about our electric support on the ascent, and then rocks down over the boulders like nothing. The hiker's mouth is open. "The upper section may not be suitable for everyone," Valentin warned us in advance. It turns out that it's not even passable for everyone. We carry our bikes around the Brocken before saddling up and trying to keep up with Valentin, who is making hooks through the mountain pines a good distance ahead. We shoot across the wide, straw-white expanses of the Barbianer Alm, rumble over wild shaking passages and finally dive into the forest. The 4-person trail is narrow and challenging, varied but sensationally beautiful - and ends after 900 metres of depth at a unique place.
Briol wafts towards us with white flags. A long line stretches across the steep mountain meadow and the washing flutters gently in the wind. Briol is extraordinary - it is difficult to categorise this building, which was erected in 1928. There is no road leading up to it, there is no running water in the rooms and the floorboards creak and creak. Nevertheless, it is hardly a hut. There are hot showers, a cosy room with a fireplace and a four-course menu in the evening that is second to none. "And you sleep here," assures our table neighbour Toni, "very deeply and very long."
It won't be quite that long for us. It's too nice to take in the mountain atmosphere in the morning. Instead, we have an extensive breakfast feast. Will Valentin take over Briol one day? He shakes his fuzzy head vehemently: "No, this is the Frauenberg." Briol has always been run exclusively by women and that's how it should stay. His sisters and cousin are already hard at work.
No wonder Johanna doesn't need to worry about the next generation. It's hard to say goodbye to Briol. We pedal uphill over the Huberspitze. No-one is travelling along the ridge of the Ritten. And again, after a quiet ascent, an eternally long, sometimes technically demanding, sometimes flowing descent on a narrow path awaits. Over rocks and roots, meadows and forest floor, the 9er Trail leads down for 12 kilometres to Atzwang. From there, we cycle along the Eisack cycle path back to Bolzano. In the provincial capital, the rest is over, but restaurateur Valentin can now show us what he has learnt from Briol in culinary terms.
The tour to Albergo Briol
- Length: 59.4 kilometres (day 1: 25.4 km / day 2: 34 km)
- Uphill: 2036 (day 1: 1149 m / day 2: 887 m)
- Downhill: 2956
- Duration: 2 days
- Lift: Rittner cable car, Bolzano
The GPS data for the tour: BIKE magazine subscribers can download the data free of charge at bike-magazin.de / "My area".
What you need to know
Briol (1310 m)
Valentin's great-great-grandmother Johanna Settari strategically conquered the slopes above Barbian and Dreikirchen. She asked her wealthy husband for a plot of land on the mountain when each child was born so that she could later spend her summer holidays there with the whole family. 15 children later, she had conquered half the mountain.
The first neighbourhood in Briol was built in 1898, but in 1928 Johanna's son-in-law, the artist and painter Hubert Lanzinger, designed a new cubist building in the Bauhaus style: timeless in its simplicity, the cube is a total work of art in which every detail is precisely coordinated. To this day, the building and interior design (including furniture, crockery and wash bowls) remain virtually unchanged. Briol is therefore also on the bucket list of architects and cultural historians.
Johanna Settari imposed three rules on her descendants for the properties on the slopes of Dreikirchen:
- Only pass on the property within the family.
- No fences.
- Keeping everything in the spirit of the mountain. A principle that her great-granddaughter Johanna Fink, who took over the guesthouse at the age of 21, still follows today.
There are 13 spartanly furnished rooms under the flat roof of Briol. Guests stay for several nights - and enjoy the absence of noise and luxury. Instead of TV and WLAN, there is a view and a library. There are historic wash basins in the rooms and running water in the showers on each floor, which are heated by solar panels or a wood-burning stove.
13 simple rooms with 25 beds can be found in Briol's main building. If you're just stopping by for a bite to eat, you can look forward to herb pot dumplings, dumpling risotto, massive Kaiserschmarrn pancakes and huge apricot or plum strudels.
- Open from mid-April to the beginning of November.
- Prices: incl. half board from 125 euros per person and night.
- Contact: Johanna Fink-Settari, Briol, I-39040 Barbian/Dreikirchen. Tel. +39 0471 650125, briol.it
Journey
You can get to Bolzano easily by train, but also by Flixbus from various German and Austrian cities. It is only a few kilometres from the centre to the Ritten cable car.
Dreikirchen/Barbiano, the closest point to the Albergo Briol, lies above the Eisack Valley between Brixen/Bressanone and Bozen/Bolzano. Leave the Brenner motorway at the Klausen exit. Continue on the state road to Waidbruck and from here to Barbiano. Guests can park
Follow the signs in the direction of Sports zone After about 1.5 kilometres there is a car park on the right-hand side. If the car park is occupied, follow the forest road to the Barbian sports ground and try there.
Cable car
The Rittner cable car runs every 4 to 12 minutes from Bozen (Rittner Str. 12) to Oberbozen. On weekdays 6:30 - 21:48 and last journey at 22:45. Sundays and public holidays from 7:10 am. Journey time: 12 minutes, price: 8 euros + 7 euros day ticket for the bike (valid on all means of transport in South Tyrol). Info: ritten.com
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