Sand in Taufers (; it, Campo Tures ) is 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 ...

mercato'' (

market town A market town is a settlement most common in Europe that obtained by custom or royal charter, in the Middle Ages, a market right, which allowed it to host a regular market; this distinguished it from a village or city. In Britain, small rural ...

) 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 ...

Geography

Located about northeast 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 ...

, the town centre is situated in the

Tauferer Ahrntal The Tauferer Ahrntal denotes the valley of the Ahr ( it, Aurino) River, a tributary valley of the Puster Valley in South Tyrol, Italy. It is commonly divided into the Tauferer Tal (''Val di Tures''), stretching from the confluence with the Rien ...

(Taufers) valley of the Ahr river, stretching from

Bruneck Bruneck (; it, Brunico or Ladin: ''Bornech'' or ''Burnech''; la, Branecium or ''Brunopolis'' is the largest town in the Puster Valley in the Italian province of South Tyrol. Geography Bruneck rises up in the middle of a wide valley (perhaps ...

Pustertal The Puster Valley ( it, Val Pusteria ; german: Pustertal, ) is one of the largest longitudinal valleys in the Alps that runs in an east-west direction between Lienz in East Tyrol, Austria, and Mühlbach near Brixen in South Tyrol, Italy. The Sou ...

up northwards to the Venediger Group mountains of the

Hohe Tauern The High Tauern ( pl.; german: Hohe Tauern, it, Alti Tauri) are a mountain range on the main chain of the Central Eastern Alps, comprising the highest peaks east of the Brenner Pass. The crest forms the southern border of the Austrian states of ...

range and the border with

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

. The municipal area comprises the ''

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 ...

'' of Ahornach, Kematen, Mühlen in Taufers, and Rein in Taufers. As of 31 December 2015, Sand in Taufers had a population of 5,371 and an area of .All demographics and other statistics: Italian statistical institute Istat. Burg Taufers - Gesamt

The market town borders the Tauferer Ahrntal municipalities of

Gais , neighboring_municipalities= Altstätten (SG), Appenzell (AI), Bühler (AR), Eichberg (SG), Rüte (AI), Schlatt-Haslen (AI), Trogen (AR) , twintowns= } Gais () is a village and a municipality in the canton of Appenzell Ausserrhoden in ...

in the south as well as

Ahrntal Ahrntal (; it, Valle Aurina ) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in South Tyrol in northern Italy, located about northeast of the city of Bolzano (''Bozen''), on the border with Austria. Geography Ahrntal borders the following municipalities: Mühl ...

and

Prettau Prettau (; it, Predoi ) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in South Tyrol, a province in northern Italy, located about northeast of Bolzano, on the border with Austria. Geography As of 31 December 2015, it had a population of 571 and an area of .A ...

further north. In the east, the municipal area comprises the

Reinbach The Reinbach is a stream in South Tyrol, Italy, known as the Rio di Riva in Italian. It flows into the Ahr in Sand in Taufers. It has three waterfalls, two high, and one high, all located in the Rieserferner-Ahrn Nature Park The Rieserferner ...

gorge and the slopes of the

Rieserferner Group The Rieserferner Group ( it, Gruppo delle Vedrette di Ries, german: Rieserfernergruppe) is a mountain range in the Austrian Central Alps. Together with the Ankogel Group, Goldberg Group, Glockner Group, Schober Group, Kreuzeck Group, Granatspitz ...

. Large parts are covered by the Rieserferner-Ahrn Nature Park, a protected nature reserve which extends to neighbouring Percha,

Rasen-Antholz Rasen-Antholz (; it, Rasun-Anterselva ) is a municipality in South Tyrol in northern Italy. Geography The municipal area stretches along the Antholz valley, a northern side valley of the larger Puster Valley. In the northeast, the Staller Saddl ...

and

Sankt Jakob in Defereggen Sankt Jakob in Defereggen ( Southern Bavarian: ''St. Jakoub in Dejfreggin'') is a municipality in the district of Lienz in the Austrian state of Tyrol Tyrol (; historically the Tyrole; de-AT, Tirol ; it, Tirolo) is a historical region i ...

in Austrian

East Tyrol East Tyrol, occasionally East Tirol (german: Osttirol), is an exclave of the Austrian state of Tyrol, separated from the main North Tyrol part by the short common border of Salzburg and Italian South Tyrol (''Südtirol'', it, Alto Adige). It i ...

. West of the village of Mühlen, the Mühlwald valley stretches westwards up along the Speikboden massif to the Neves reservoir and the crest of the

Zillertal Alps The Zillertal Alps ( it, Alpi Aurine; german: Zillertaler Alpen) are a mountain range of the Central Eastern Alps on the border of Austria and Italy. Name The range is named after the Zillertal (Ziller river valley) on its north. Geography The ...

. The local

Taufers Railway The Tauferer Bahn ( en, Taufers Railway) connected Taufers with the city of Bruneck and the Pusterer Bahn. Track Just after leaving the station of Bruneck and after crossing the Rienz, the track followed the Ahr river until the final station i ...

connection from Bruneck station to Sand in Taufers, built in 1908, was discontinued in 1957. Today, the region largely depends on tourism.

Taufers Castle

The settlement of ''Tvfres'' was first mentioned in the mid 11th century in the registers of the Prince-bishops of Brixen. The Tyrolean lordship was ruled from Taufers Castle, a huge medieval fortress which towers on a rock above the village and was built from the early 13th century onwards. Restored in the 20th century, the preserved castle complex is a popular film location, providing the setting of the 1998 drama film '' The Red Violin'', the 2003 comedy ''

Just Married ''Just Married'' is a 2003 American romantic comedy film directed by Shawn Levy, written by Sam Harper, and stars Ashton Kutcher and Brittany Murphy. Produced by Robert Simonds, the film was successful at the box office despite generally negative ...

'' and the 2016 comedy '' Burg Schreckenstein''. It also served as a picturesque backdrop for

Roman Polanski Raymond Roman Thierry Polański , group=lower-alpha, name=note_a ( né Liebling; 18 August 1933) is a French-Polish film director, producer, screenwriter, and actor. He is the recipient of numerous accolades, including an Academy Award, tw ...

's 1967 horror classic ''

The Fearless Vampire Killers ''The Fearless Vampire Killers, or Pardon Me, But Your Teeth Are in My Neck'' (shortened to ''The Fearless Vampire Killers''; originally released in the United Kingdom as ''Dance of the Vampires'') is a 1967 British comedy horror film directed b ...

''.

Demography

Linguistic distribution

According to the 2011 census, 97.34% of the population speak

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 ...

, 2.30% Italian and 0.36%

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.

Demographic evolution

Colors= id:lightgrey value:gray(0.9) id:darkgrey value:gray(0.8) id:sfondo value:rgb(1,1,1) id:barra value:rgb(0.6,0.7,0.8) ImageSize = width:455 height:303 PlotArea = left:50 bottom:50 top:30 right:30 DateFormat = x.y Period = from:0 till:6000 TimeAxis = orientation:vertical AlignBars = justify ScaleMajor = gridcolor:darkgrey increment:1000 start:0 ScaleMinor = gridcolor:lightgrey increment:200 start:0 BackgroundColors = canvas:sfondo BarData= bar:1860 text:1860 bar:1870 text:1870 bar:1880 text:1880 bar:1900 text:1900 bar:1910 text:1910 bar:1921 text:1921 bar:1931 text:1931 bar:1936 text:1936 bar:1951 text:1951 bar:1961 text:1961 bar:1971 text:1971 bar:1981 text:1981 bar:1991 text:1991 bar:2001 text:2001 PlotData= color:barra width:20 align:left bar:1860 from: 0 till:0 bar:1870 from: 0 till:0 bar:1880 from: 0 till:2384 bar:1900 from: 0 till:0 bar:1910 from: 0 till:2387 bar:1921 from: 0 till:2627 bar:1931 from: 0 till:2673 bar:1936 from: 0 till:2932 bar:1951 from: 0 till:3276 bar:1961 from: 0 till:3426 bar:1971 from: 0 till:3780 bar:1981 from: 0 till:4247 bar:1991 from: 0 till:4436 bar:2001 from: 0 till:4880 PlotData= bar:1860 at:0 fontsize:XS text: ? shift:(-8,5) bar:1870 at:0 fontsize:XS text: ? shift:(-8,5) bar:1880 at:2384 fontsize:XS text: 2384 shift:(-8,5) bar:1900 at:0 fontsize:XS text: ? shift:(-8,5) bar:1910 at:2387 fontsize:XS text: 2387 shift:(-8,5) bar:1921 at:2627 fontsize:XS text: 2627 shift:(-8,5) bar:1931 at:2673 fontsize:XS text: 2673 shift:(-8,5) bar:1936 at:2932 fontsize:XS text: 2932 shift:(-8,5) bar:1951 at:3276 fontsize:XS text: 3276 shift:(-8,5) bar:1961 at:3426 fontsize:XS text: 3426 shift:(-8,5) bar:1971 at:3780 fontsize:XS text: 3780 shift:(-8,5) bar:1981 at:4247 fontsize:XS text: 4247 shift:(-8,5) bar:1991 at:4436 fontsize:XS text: 4436 shift:(-8,5) bar:2001 at:4880 fontsize:XS text: 4880 shift:(-8,5) TextData= fontsize:S pos:(20,20) text:Data from ISTAT

Coat-of-arms

The arms is

barry Barry may refer to: People and fictional characters * Barry (name), including lists of people with the given name, nickname or surname, as well as fictional characters with the given name * Dancing Barry, stage name of Barry Richards (born c. 195 ...

of six

gules In heraldry, gules () is the tincture with the colour red. It is one of the class of five dark tinctures called "colours", the others being azure (blue), sable (black), vert (green) and purpure (purple). In engraving, it is sometimes depict ...

and

argent In heraldry, argent () is the tincture of silver, and belongs to the class of light tinctures called "metals". It is very frequently depicted as white and usually considered interchangeable with it. In engravings and line drawings, regions to ...

. The first two of argent have three lozenge of azure, the third has two. The emblem was of the Lords of ''Taufers'' that became extinct in 1300. The emblem was adopted in 1967.Heraldry of the World: Sand in Taufers
/ref>

Notable people

* Emil von Ottenthal (1855–1931) historian and archivist * Josef Andreas Jungmann (1889–1975) a prominent Jesuit priest and liturgist * Erich Kirchler (born 1954) Professor of Economic Psychology at the University of Vienna, researches tax psychology *

Hans Kammerlander Hans Kammerlander (born 6 December 1956, Bolzano, South Tyrol, Italy) is an Italian mountaineer, living in Ahornach, a hamlet nearby Sand in Taufers. He has climbed 13 of the 14 8000m peaks. In 1984, together with Reinhold Messner he was the fi ...

(born 1956), mountaineer * Barbara Ertl (born 1982) biathlete, competed at the

2006 Winter Olympics The 2006 Winter Olympics, officially the XX Olympic Winter Games ( it, XX Giochi olimpici invernali) and also known as Torino 2006, were a winter multi-sport event held from 10 to 26 February 2006 in Turin, Italy. This marked the second ...

, she lives in Sand in Taufers

Notes

References

* Josef Innerhofer: ''Taufers, Ahrn, Prettau. Die Geschichte eines Tales'', Bozen: Verlagsanstalt Athesia 1980, . * Alexander von Hohenbühel: ''Taufers - eine Dynastenburg'', Regensburg: Schnell & Steiner 2007, . * Idem: ''Taufers - il fascino di un castello dinastiale'', Regensburg: Schnell & Steiner 2007, .

External links

Homepage of the municipality
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sand In Taufers Municipalities of South Tyrol Rieserferner-Ahrn Nature Park