Multilingualism in Trentino–Alto Adige/Südtirol.

Italy has two levels of regional government: regioni, and province. Trentino–Alto Adige/Südtirol is a bilingual regione, comprising the province of Trentino and Alto Adige/Südtirol.

On entering the regione on the A22 (Autobrennero/Brennerautobahn), some bilingualism is introduced. Place names are all in Italian, but other words also appear in German. The electronic signs will warn of Staugefahr ending at Bolzano. But in Alto Adige/Südtirol, the signs are all fully bilingual. On the Autostrada, Italian seems to come first, but off it, German does. Thus strade provinciali (Landesstraße) are labelled ‘LS/SP’ (in that order) on signs indicating the road number. North of the border with Trentino, someone has to remember to change the place names as well as the other words: thus the Staugefahr ends at Bozen, not Bolzano.

Some roads are closed to certain vehicles, pursuant to

Landesgesetz Nr.10 - 8.5.1990

Legge prov.le n.10 - 8/5/1990[.]

Most road names are translated too (thus Kirchweg/Via della Chiesa). Sometimes people can’t be bothered: thus, ‘In der Lahn’. Similarly, Fischerweg/via dei Pescatori. On the other hand, there are such absurdities as Rainweg/via Rainweg. (I’m sure I saw more of these, but I can’t remember where—this is at least an amusing example.)

À propos.

Étiquettes.

plurilinguisme, Italy, Italian, German.

Mises à jour.

• J.P. Loo (17 août 2025): Fixed something-weg example.
• J.P. Loo (17 août 2025): Südtirol road signs.