Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
interiors are thoughtful and textured: respectful of the building's storied past but refresh-
ingly contemporary. Individually furnished, antique-strewn rooms evoke different moods,
each highlighting the different landscape glimpsed from the window.
DESIGN HOTEL
€€€
Imperial Art Hotel
( 0473 23 71 72;
www.imperialart.it
; Corso della Libertà 110; d €200-350; )
Upstairs in what
was once a belle époque coffee palace, this inconspicuous, supercomfortable hotel has 11
distinct artist-designed rooms - Tyrolean furniture morphs into neo-geo abstraction; vel-
vet covers and dark-hued walls pay homage to the former Hotel Bristol; an armoire and
walls emit an aluminium sheen.
Eating & Drinking
As befits a town dedicated to bodily pleasure, Merano has an excellent fine-dining scene,
including the Michelin-starred
Sissi
and
Castel Fragsburg
. Via Portici brims with speck-
dealing delis,
konditorei
line Corso della Libertà, and there are more late-night imbibing
options, often squirreled down lanes, than you'd imagine.
Pur Südtirol
(
www.pursuedtirol.com
;
Corso della Libertà 35; plates from €7; )
This stylish regional showcase
has an amazing selection of farm produce: wine, cider, some 80 varieties of cheese, speck
and sausage, pastries and breads, tisanes and body care. Everything is hyperlocal (take
Anton Oberhöller's chocolate, flavoured with apple, lemon balm or dark bread crisps).
Specially commissioned wood, glass and textiles fill one corner of the shop. Stay for a
coffee, glass of wine or the
bretteljause
- a plate of cured meat - at one of the communal
tables.
ARTISAN, WINE BAR
€
Forsterbräu
( 0473 23 65 35; Corso della Libertà 90; meals €25; 10.30am-midnight)
This brewery restaur-
ant has a huge beer garden and a number of beautifully designed and cosy dining rooms.
Come for a pint or heaped plates of
gulaschsuppe
(gulasch soup), trout and roast boar.
BREWERY
€€
Kallmünz
( 0473 21 29 17;
www.kallmuenz.it
;
Piazza della Rena 12; meals €47, degustations €50-65; Tue-
Sun)
With rough rendered walls and a dark-beamed ceiling, the dining room here is theat-
rically simple, and the food too strikes a balance between flirtatious experimentation and
GASTRONOMIC
€€€
