The Zum Riesen today
You know who lived here in the past?
No, not the giant, the Riese.
One family, at least three generations, many children, aunts, uncles and grandparents. A lot of movement, always. A house run by women, for centuries. As it is today.
On the outer wall a wisteria lovingly hugs the house, a gorgeous sight in summer.
Its thick roots still push through the house floor.
We enter the house through the main door and climb a flight of old stone stairs to our left,
which used to be the outer staircase.
After renovation the fresco on the hall ceiling depicts a shell, to remind our visitors that the Riesen used to be a stopover for pilgrims.
Possibly the pilgrims were coming from the Ötztal, from Hochjoch and from the Senales Valley, crossing the Tarres pass and Rabbijoch on their way to the south. Every year, on the 10th of October, the procession of pilgrims from the Ultimo Valley to San Martino was passing exactly through this point.
The Riesen is definitely in the right spot. And here it is once again, going strong and bursting with ideas, a treasure of stories worth discovering. Meeting point for the whole village and the surroundings,
refuge for people in search of their soul.
