South Tyrol (German: Südtirol; Italian: Alto Adige; Ladin: Südtirol), officially the Autonomous Province of Bolzano – South Tyrol, is an autonomousprovince in northern Italy. Together with Trentino, South Tyrol forms the autonomous region of Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol. The province is the northernmost of Italy, the second largest with an area of 7,400 square kilometres (2,857 sq mi), and has a total population of about 534,000 inhabitants as of 2021. Its capital and largest city is Bolzano.
The province is granted 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, South Tyrol is the wealthiest province in Italy and among the wealthiest in the European Union. Residents are employed in a variety of sectors, from agriculture — the province is a large producer of apples, and its South Tyrol wine are also renowned — to industry to services, especially tourism. Spas located on the Italian Alps have become a favorite for tourists seeking wellness.
In the wider context of the European Union, 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. The other members are the Austrian federal state Tyrol to the north and east, and the Italian autonomous province of Trento to the south.
According to the 2024 census, 57.6% of the population used German as their first language (standard German in the written form and the South Tyrolean dialect of Austro-Bavarian in the spoken form); 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; 16.1% of the population (mainly recent immigrants) spoke another native 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.
