Laives (; german: Leifers ) is a

town A town is a human settlement. Towns are generally larger than villages and smaller than cities, though the criteria to distinguish between them vary considerably in different parts of the world. Origin and use The word "town" shares an o ...

and a ''

comune The (; plural: ) is a local administrative division of Italy, roughly equivalent to a township or municipality. It is the third-level administrative division of Italy, after regions ('' regioni'') and provinces (''province''). The can also ...

'' (municipality) in

South Tyrol it, Provincia Autonoma di Bolzano – Alto Adige lld, Provinzia Autonoma de Balsan/Bulsan – Südtirol , settlement_type = Autonomous province , image_skyline = , image_alt ...

in northern

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

, located about south of the city of

Bolzano Bolzano ( or ; german: Bozen, (formerly ); bar, Bozn; lld, Balsan or ) is the capital city of the province of South Tyrol in northern Italy. With a population of 108,245, Bolzano is also by far the largest city in South Tyrol and the third ...

. It is one of only five mainly Italian speaking municipalities in South Tyrol, and the fourth largest municipality in the province.

Geography

As of November 30, 2010, it had a population of 17,168 and an area of .

Subdivisions

The municipality contains four urban centers: *Laives (Leifers) *Pineta (Steinmannwald) *San Giacomo (St. Jakob) *La Costa (Seit) Laives is the seat of the town hall, Pineta and San Giacomo are two ''

frazioni A ''frazione'' (plural: ) is a type of subdivision of a ''comune'' (municipality) in Italy, often a small village or hamlet outside the main town. Most ''frazioni'' were created during the Fascist era (1922–1943) as a way to consolidate territ ...

'' (hamlets), while La Costa is - according to the municipal statute - a '' località'' (inhabited locality), but it is often referred to as a ''frazione'' also in the official documentation. The Brantental valley connects it with Deutschnofen.

History

Coat-of-arms

The emblem consists of an argent pile, with concave sides on azure and a chapel on a mountain of gules. The sign, similar to that of the Counts of ''Lichtenstein'' who lived in the castle on Mount ''Köfele'', represents the church of ''Peterköfele''. The emblem was adopted in 1970.Heraldry of the World: Laives
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Society

Linguistic distribution

According to the 2011 census, 71.50% of the population speak Italian, 27.99%

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

and 0.51%

Ladin Ladin may refer to: *Ladin language, a language in northern Italy, often classified as a Rhaeto-Romance language *Ladin people, the inhabitants of the Dolomite Alps region of northern Italy See also *Laden (disambiguation) *Ladino (disambiguati ...

as first language.

Culture

The '' carnival of Laives'' is one of the most important carnivals of Trentino-South Tyrol. The city is also the headquarters of the '' Coro Monti Pallidi'', an all-man a capella chorus founded in 1967 by Sergio Maccagnan and conducted since 2004 by Paolo Maccagnan.

Notable people

* Reinhard Dallinger (born 1950 in Laives) a retired zoologist and Professor of

zoology Zoology ()The pronunciation of zoology as is usually regarded as nonstandard, though it is not uncommon. is the branch of biology that studies the animal kingdom, including the structure, embryology, evolution, classification, habits, an ...

and

ecotoxicology Ecotoxicology is the study of the effects of toxic chemicals on biological organisms, especially at the population, community, ecosystem, and biosphere levels. Ecotoxicology is a multidisciplinary field, which integrates toxicology and ecolog ...

References

External links

Official website
Municipalities of South Tyrol {{TrentinoAltoAdige-geo-stub