the isarco valley is the very junction of traffic from northern to southern europe.

over the centuries, this broad valley was travelled over by not fewer than 66 german emperors together with their armies and an indefinite number of knights and infantrymen.

the narrowing in the southern part has always represented an obstacle: this explains the reason why people preferred climbing up renon and subsequently going down to bolzano.

in the first years of 1300 the merchant heinrich kuntner from bolzano first attempted to overcome this obstacle. however, by the building of the railway network of brenner, which connected innsbruck with bolzano and verona, the valley had a sudden change: it was 1876. the lay-out has remained the same as before, although it does not meet the requirements of today's traffic anymore and needs some renovation. after building of the motorway called a22 or "autobrennero" was completed, things have improved so far. modern spirit inspired the works, which started in 1959 and were finished in 1975. the long snake of asphalt that overlooks the whole valley allows people to enjoy landscapes formerly precluded to motorists who had to reach brenner pass by driving through the bottom of the valley. former fears of damage to environment and landscape have vanished by now. anyway, today one can rightly affirm that the motorway is certainly well fitted in the natural context of trentino and upper adige.