Introduction

Hello there,

I was an Erasmus student in the University of Bolzano, Italy during the winter semester of 2010/2011. Before I arrive there I've been searching very hard to find as much information as possible, regarding my stay and study. Despite this, I didn't find everything that I wanted to know. There are things which can be seen or understood only when you arrive...or if someone was already there and wants to share his/her experience with you.

In the following couple of blogs I will try to give answers of all the questions that you may have, and which I had, but there were no answers of them on the internet. If you have any particular questions, don't hesitate to ask me through a comment or an e-mail. This articles can also be helpful for people, who want to visit Bolzano and need some tips, or something more detailed.

I will cover the following topics:

• Basic information about the city
• Sightseeings
• Transportation
• Food
• Supermarkets
• Sport
• Free University of Bozen-Bolzano
• UniverCity

Basic information about the city

Here as well as in the other sections I will try to give information about the city, which is not so easy to find on the internet. Of course you can see very good information in Wikipedia, but here you'll find different point of view.

When I was accepted in the Erasmus program, I didn't know anything about the city. I thought that this is some small and unknown city in Italy, with a small university. And this is true. Bolzano has population around 104 000. I didn't expect much. But when I came here I was amazed when I felt the atmosphere and saw the beauty of the city. But there is more. I was nicely surprised when I understood that this city is the number one city in living standard in Italy. And this is because it is autonomous province. This means that Bolzano is the richest city in Italy, and because of this there are lots of projects and services offered by the Municipality as well as by different organizations. This on the other hand means that a lot of manpower is needed. So if you want to start new life in Italy, Bolzano is a perfect place. Of course you should have qualification and something very important - you have to speak German and Italian, because the city is bilingual. These two languages are official in the region. All public services are bilingual. Of course English is on third place and you could use it as well, but the first two languages that I've mentioned are most important.

Most of the population in Bolzano is Italian speaking, but there are 5-6% German speaking population. If you go to the villages around Bolzano, this proportion is in favor of German. All street signs are in German and Italian. Actually after Trento, all northern parts of Italy use German language as a second official language.

People in Bolzano are very kind and friendly. They are very patient and polite. I've seen only 3 or 4 traffic jams for 5 months, and only one, fortunately very light car crash. I didn't see nervous drivers or people in a hurry, who are making noise behind the wheel. The city is very well organized and safe. There are some places on which it is not preferable to go like around the train station, but in every city the train station is not the safest place.

Sightseeings

Transportation

The public transportation in Bolzano is very well developed. Currently the company which provides this services is SAD. You can find very detailed information about prices or routes on their site. The price of one ticket per one direction is only 65 cents. But for students if you buy ABO+ card, you pay once and then you travel without being charged not only in Bolzano, but in the whole South Tyrol. This also includes the trains. There are three cabel car lines in Bolzano, which are the fastest transportation to the nearest mountain villages. Two of them are free if you have ABO+. The regular price per round trip is about 3,60 Euro on average (depends on the line). In order to have this card you have to be less than 27 years old and you have to pay 100 Euro for one year.

Despite having so well developed transportation, there is another possibility to travel fast and healthy, which is often the desired choice for lots of people there. Bolzano has a very well developed network of bicycle alleys. You can reach every point of the city very fast. For example from the east most point to the west most point you'll need only around 40 minutes without riding fast. Not only that, but the drivers are very tolerant and you will feel very safe on roads, which don't have specially designed lane for bicycles.

There are lots of shops for bicycles in the whole city. You have a big choice, but the prices are very colorful. If you are a student for 5 months or an year you'll probably won't want to pay 1000 Euro for a bicycle. For this problem there are three solutions: The first solution is to go to http://second-hand.it and to search for a bicycle. Very often you can find there good bicycles for cheap prices; the second solution is to ask the secretary of your faculty. Some students leave there their bikes for sale; the previous two solutions can make you wait for a while, but there is one most reliable solution and that is to go to the shop depicted on the google map.



They offer new and second hand bicycles on very reasonable prices. That was what I've done. I went there and bought a bike for 50 Euro. Some of my colleges bought for 40 and even for 20. Well the last bike wasn't so fancy, but it was perfect for 5 months. Moreover having a bicycle gives you flexibility and...come on, it's a suicide if you don't enjoy this beautiful city on a bike on the perfectly developed bicycle network.

Just keep in mind that when you have bicycle you have to have front and back lights. It is forbidden to ride a bike while listening to music with headphones and you can't ride a bike with an umbrella in your hand. There is a very strict law about this, and if you don't obey it you could get a fine which is about 30-40 Euro.

At last, but not least is the train transportation. Bolzano is a very important point of Italy, which connects Italy with central Europe. The rail network is well developed. The trains are cozy and clean. On http://www.trenitalia.com/ you can find timetables and ticket prices and here you can find a rail map. If you are interested in the different types of trains in the region click here.

Food

Supermarkets

Bolzano has a great variety of supermarkets, so wherever you live you will have at least one shop close to your hostel. The supermarket chains that I've seen during my stay are LD, Despar, Eurospin, Billa, Polly and Metro. You can see them on the map.
I won't tell anything about the services and customer care, because they are great everywhere in Bolzano. I will pay attention on what is more interesting to the students - prices.



LD

LD (with blue color on the map) is the second biggest chain in Bolzano and has one of the most competitive prices for products like fruits, vegetables, milk and milk products, salamis, eggs etc. Like many big markets, they produce their own product line, which reduces prices even more. They have a bit higher prices of meat, but you could find something reasonable when there is a promotion.

Their supermarkets are relatively small, especially compared to the other chains. It is pretty common to see long queues on the cash desks, because they have two or three cash desks per market. Furthermore it is pretty often to see only one working cash desk. I don't know why. Maybe a politic of the market.

Working hours: Monday - Saturday 8:30 - 19:30

Despar

Despar is the biggest supermarket chain in Bolzano. They have markets in every part of the city. Maybe they offer the best quality of products, but their prices are not so low. They have their own product line, but the prices of this products are not less than their analogues in Despar and in the other supermarket chains in Bolzano.

There is one difference with that I've said in the last paragraph - there are some products , which have cheapest analogue, not only in Despar, but in the whole Bolzano. They put it at the stand's bottom most place. The brand is called Budget. You will recognize it easily by the green color of their packages. So if you go to Despar and want something really cheap, look beyond :).

Working hours: Monday - Saturday 8:30 - 19:30

Eurospin

The only Eurospin's supermarket in Bolzano is located near the train station as you can see on the map (with green color). The market is big and there is a great variety of products. They have lots of promotions, and I think this is the cheapest supermarket in Bolzano. Unfortunately it was too far from my hostel, but it deserves it to go there even once per month (for the most important products), especially when they have good promotions. You can see the promotions on their website or can download a flyer as a pdf. The website has an english version as well.
Eurospin offers very good prices of meat, and often offers attractive promotions of their meat products.

Working hours: Monday - Saturday 8:30 - 19:00

Billa

There is only one supermarket of Billa in Bolzano (marked with yellow color on the map). I've been there a couple of times. They have cheap prices only on the products of their product line, but I didn't like the prices of the other products. The quality of the stokes is good. They had remarkably good promotions of meat but that happened only 3 or 4 times during my 5 months' stay.

Working hours: Monday - Saturday 8:30 - 19:30

Polly

I've been to Polly only once. It is almost the same as LD, but with a bit higher prices. This was their only market that I've seen in Bolzano. You can see it on the map in light blue color.

Working hours: Monday - Saturday 8:30 - 19:30

Metro

I've never been to Metro. I've seen it once, while I was cycling, that's why I can't tell you anything about prices. Maybe it is reasonable to go there if you have car and you want to buy more products at once. It is in violet on the map.

At the end I will put two rank lists, in which I estimate the above mentioned supermarkets (I exclude Metro in this rank lists):

Rank list by price (from cheapest to most expensive):
1. Eurospin
2. LD
3. Polly
4. Despar

Rank list by quality of the products (from best to worst):
1. Despar
2. Eurospin
3. Polly
4. LD

Sport