Laives (; ) is a town and a (municipality) in

South Tyrol South Tyrol ( , ; ; ), officially the Autonomous Province of Bolzano – South Tyrol, is an autonomous administrative division, autonomous provinces of Italy, province in northern Italy. Together with Trentino, South Tyrol forms the autonomo ...

in northern Italy, located about south of the city of

Bolzano Bolzano ( ; ; or ) is the capital city of South Tyrol (officially the province of Bolzano), Northern Italy. With a population of 108,245, Bolzano is also by far the largest city in South Tyrol and the third largest in historical Tyrol. The ...

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

Geography

As of 30 November 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'' (: ''frazioni'') 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 consolidat ...

'' (hamlets), while La Costa is – according to the municipal statute – a ''

località A ''località'' is an inhabited place in Italy that is not accorded a more significant distinction in administrative law, such as a '' frazione'', ''comune'', '' municipio'', '' circoscrizione'', or ''quartiere''. The word is cognate to English ' ...

'' (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 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 b ...

pile, with concave sides on azure and a chapel on a mountain of

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). Gules is portrayed in heraldic hatch ...

. 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 2024 census, 74.47% of the population speak Italian, 25.16% German and 0.36% Ladin as first language.

Culture

The '' carnival of Laives'' is one of the most important

carnival Carnival (known as Shrovetide in certain localities) is a festive season that occurs at the close of the Christian pre-Lenten period, consisting of Quinquagesima or Shrove Sunday, Shrove Monday, and Shrove Tuesday or Mardi Gras. Carnival typi ...

s 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 ( , ) is the scientific study of animals. Its studies include the anatomy, structure, embryology, Biological classification, classification, Ethology, habits, and distribution of all animals, both living and extinction, extinct, and ...

and

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

References

External links

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