Pustertal#

Pustertal valley (Val Pusteria), Italy and East Tirol; valley running longitudinally from the Muehlbach Gorge in South Tirol to the Lienz Gorge in East Tirol located between the Zillertal Alps and the Defereggen mountains in the north and the Dolomite Alps in the south. The Pustertal valley is divided naturally into a western section (drained by the Rienza river which flows westward joining the Isarco river near Bressanone/Brixen), a middle section (through which the Drau/Drava flows) and an eastern section (Hoch-Pustertal). The valley´s watershed is the Toblach/Dobbiaco field (South Tirol). Since 1919 the western and middle sections have belonged to Italy, and the eastern section (Tirol: Hoch-Pustertal) to Austria.

Agriculture in the Austrian Pustertal valley: silage maize, oats, barley and vegetables, pasture land; Simmental Cattle, mountain sheep. Tourist resorts in the Pustertal valley and environs (hiking, skiing) on the Austrian side include: Sillian (1,103 m); in South Tirol: Innichen/San Candido, Sexten/Sesto (in the south-eastern section of the Pustertal valley), Toblach/Dobbiaco (1,240 m) the Antholz Valley (in the north east) and Bruneck/Brunico (main town in the Pustertal valley). On the edge of the Hoch-Pustertal valley in Tirol lies Lienz (673 m); roads and railways connect the Carinthian Drau Valley to Bolzano/Bozen and Innsbruck.

Literature#