South Tyrol

South Tyrol (German: Südtirol [ˈzyːtːiˌʁoːl] , locally [ˈsyːtiˌroːl]; Italian: Alto Adige [ˈalto ˈaːdidʒe]; Ladin: Südtirol), officially the Autonomous Province of Bolzano/Bozen – South Tyrol, is an autonomous province in northern Italy. Together with Trentino, South Tyrol forms the autonomous region of Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol. The province is Italy's northernmost, with an area of 7,398.38 square kilometres (2,857 sq mi), and has a population of 542,134 as of 2026. Its capital and largest city is Bolzano. South Tyrol has a considerable level of self-government, consisting of a large range of exclusive legislative and executive powers and a fiscal regime that allows it to retain 90% of revenue, while remaining a net contributor to the national budget. As of 2023, it is Italy's wealthiest province and among the wealthiest in the European Union. As of 2024, South Tyrol was also the region with the lowest number of persons at risk of poverty or social exclusion in the EU, with 6.6% of the population compared to the EU mean of 21.4%. In the wider context of the EU, the province is one of the three members of the Tyrol–South Tyrol–Trentino Euroregion, which corresponds almost exactly to the historical region of Tyrol. As of 2024, 57.6% of the population used German as its first language; 22.6% of the population spoke Italian, mainly in and around the two largest cities (Bolzano and Merano); 3.7% spoke Ladin, a Rhaeto-Romance language; and 16.1% of the population (mainly recent immigrants) spoke another language in addition to Italian and German. Of 116 South Tyrolean municipalities, 102 have a German-speaking, eight a Ladin-speaking, and six an Italian-speaking majority. The Italianization of South Tyrol and the settlement of Italians from the rest of Italy after 1918 significantly modified local demographics.