Merano Grape Festival

After long months of work in the vineyards, mid-October marks the time, as every year, to celebrate the end of the grape harvest for two days in the streets of the Old Town of Merano. The parade on Sunday is the highlight of the Grape Festival: Accompanied by music bands, folk dance groups and Schützen, decorated festive floats also move through the streets of the spa town.

They have already achieved fame: Participants include the Marlengo float "Apple Crown", which first took part in the parade in 1949 and carries the huge crown made of South Tyrolean apples, the "Scout" float of the Lagundo Young Farmers with its 300-kilogram giant grape, and the float bearing the Merano coat of arms. Starting from the Porta Venosta, the parade moves along Via delle Corse into Corso della Libertà, to the Piazza della Rena square, onto the Lungopassirio Promenade, to the Merano Municipal Theatre and then to the Piazza Terme square.

They are a beautiful sight to behold: the hand-embroidered South Tyrolean traditional costumes, the blonde Haflinger horses and the proud faces of the participants. South Tyrolean youth bands perform on the squares. On these two days, South Tyrolean natural products are sold at the stalls of the MM, the Merano Market. Thanks to the Merano municipal gardening department, beautiful plant figures and flower beds, prepared for this occasion, adorn the various locations. Incidentally, the first Merano Grape Festival (Traubenfest Meran) took place as early as 1886.