| Brenner Pass | |
|---|---|
 View between the top of the pass and the village ofGries am Brenner | |
| Elevation | 1,370 m (4,495 ft) |
| Traversed by | E45 motorway |
| Location | Austria–Italyborder |
| Range | Alps |
| Coordinates | 47°0′12″N11°30′27″E / 47.00333°N 11.50750°E /47.00333; 11.50750 |
  Brenner Pass Brenner Pass lies along the border of Austria and Italy | |
TheBrenner Pass (German:Brennerpass[ˈbʁɛnɐpas], in shortBrenner;Italian:Passo del Brennero[ˈpassodelˈbrɛnnero]) is amountain pass over theAlps which forms theborder betweenItaly andAustria. It is one of themajor passes of the Eastern Alpine range and has the lowest altitude among Alpine passes of the area.
Dairy cattle graze in alpine pastures throughout the summer in valleys beneath the pass and on the mountain slopes. At lower altitudes, farmers log pine trees, plant crops and harvest hay for winter fodder. Many of the high pastures are at an altitude of over 1,500 metres (4,900 feet); a small number stand high in the mountains at around 2,000 metres (6,600 feet).
The central section of the Brenner Pass covers a four-lane motorway and railway tracks connectingBozen/Bolzano in the south andInnsbruck to the north. The village of Brenner consists of an outlet shopping centre (supermarkets and stores), fruit stores, restaurants, cafés, hotels and a gas station. It has a population of 400 to 600 (as of 2011[update]).
Older, obsolete theories suggested a connection of the nameBrenner with the ancient tribe of theBreuni or theGaulish chieftainBrennus, but since the pass name appears for the first time only in the 14th century, a more recent etymology is far more likely.[1]
"Prenner" was originally the name of a nearby farm, which was named after its former owner. The farm of a certainPrennerius is mentioned in documents in 1288; a certainChunradus Prenner de Mittenwalde is mentioned in 1299. The German wordPrenner probably refers to somebody who usesslash-and-burn techniques for land clearing. A name for the pass itself appears for the first time in 1328 asob dem Prenner (German forabove the Prenner).[2]
TheRomans regularised the mountain pass at Brenner, which had already been under frequent use during the prehistoric eras since the most recent Ice Age.[3] The Brenner Pass, however, was not the first trans-Alpine Roman road to become regularised under the Roman Empire.
The first Roman road to cross the Alpine range,Via Claudia Augusta, connectedVerona in northern Italy withAugusta Vindelicorum (modern-dayAugsburg) in the Roman province ofRaetia. Via Augusta was completed in 46–47 AD; the route took its course along theAdige valley to the neighbouringReschen Pass (west of the Brenner Pass), then descended into theInn valley before rising toFern Pass towards Augsburg.
The Roman road that physically crossed over the Brenner Pass did not exist until the 2nd century AD. It took part of the "eastern" route up theEisack Valley and descended into Veldidena (modern-dayWilten), where it crossed theInn and intoZirl and arrived at Augsburg viaFüssen.
TheAlamanni (Germanic tribe) crossed the Brenner Pass southward into modern-day Italy in 268 AD, but they were stopped in November of that year at theBattle of Lake Benacus. The Romans kept control over the mountain pass until the end of their empire in the 5th century.[4]
During theHigh Middle Ages, Brenner Pass was a part of the importantVia Imperii, animperial road linking theKingdom of Germany north of the Alps with the ItalianMarch of Verona. In theCarolingianDivisio Regnorum of 806, the Brenner region was calledper alpes Noricas, the transit through theNoric Alps.[5] From the 12th century, the Brenner Pass was controlled by theCounts of Tyrol within theHoly Roman Empire. EmperorFrederick Barbarossa made frequent use of the Brenner Pass to cross the Alps during his imperial expeditions intoItaly.[6] The 12th-century Brenner Pass accommodated mule trains and carts.
Modernisation of the Brenner Pass started in 1777, when a carriage road was laid out at the behest of EmpressMaria Theresa.
Modernisation further took place under theAustrian Empire and theBrenner Railway, which was completed in stages from 1853 to 1867. It became the first trans-Alpine railway without a major tunnel and at high altitude (crossing the Brenner Pass at 1,371 m). Completion of the railway enabled the Austrians to move their troops more efficiently; they had hoped to secure their territories ofVenetia andLombardy (south of the Alps), but lost them to Italy following theSecond Italian War of Independence in 1859 andAustro-Prussian War in 1866.[citation needed]
At the end ofWorld War I in 1918, the control of the Brenner Pass became shared between Italy and Austria under theTreaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye (1919). TheTreaty of London (1915) secretly awarded Italy the territories south of the Brenner Pass for supporting the Entente Powers. Welschtirol/Trentino, along with the southern part of theCounty of Tyrol (nowSouth Tyrol), was transferred to Italy, and Italian troops occupied Tyrol and arrived at the Brenner Pass in 1919 to 20.
On 12 March 1938, Austria wasannexed byGermany. Two years and six days later duringWorld War II,Adolf Hitler andBenito Mussolini met at the Brenner Pass to celebrate theirPact of Steel on 18 March 1940. Later, in 1943, following theItalian armistice with the Allies, the Brenner Passwas annexed byNazi Germany, shifting the border with theItalian Social Republic, the Nazi puppet state headed by Mussolini, much further south. In 1945, the area was occupied by theUS Army and returned to Italy after the end of the war. The Brenner Pass was part of theratlines that were used by senior Nazis fleeing the allies after the German surrender in 1945.
Following World War II, the pass once again formed the border between Italy and the newly independent Republic of Austria, and maintained its importance as a key trade route. On 1 January 1995 theSchengen Agreement entered into force in Austria, a treaty Italy ratified on 26 October. As a consequence, border checks were abolished in the Brenner Pass for goods and people between the two countries. On 19 November 1995 the border barrier between Italy and Austria at Brenner was officially abolished, with a commemoration attended by Austrian Minister of the Interior Karl Schlögl, Italian Minister of the InteriorGiorgio Napolitano, and the governors ofInnsbruck andBolzano.[7]
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The motorwayE45 (European designation; in ItalyA22, in Austria theA13),Brenner Autobahn/Autostrada del Brennero, begins inInnsbruck, runs through the Brenner Pass,Bozen/Bolzano,Verona and finishes outsideModena. It is one of the most important routes of north–south connections in Europe.
After the signing of theSchengen Agreement in 1992 and Austria's subsequent entry into theEuropean Union in 1995, customs and immigration posts at the Brenner Pass were removed in 1997. However, Austria reinstituted border checks in 2015 as a response to theEuropean migrant crisis. In April 2016, Austria announced it would build a 370-meter long fence at the Pass but clarify that "it would be used only to "channel" people and was not a barrier.[8]"
TheEuropabrücke (Europe Bridge), located roughly halfway betweenInnsbruck and the Brenner Pass, is a large concrete bridge carrying the six-laneBrenner Autobahn over the valley ofSill River (Wipptal). At a height of 180 metres (590 feet) and span of 820 metres (2,690 feet), the bridge was celebrated as a masterpiece of engineering upon its completion in 1963. It is a site where bungee-jumping from the bridge has become a popular tourist attraction.[citation needed]
The ever-increasing freight and leisure traffic, however, has been causing longtraffic jams at busy times even without border enforcements. The Brenner Pass is the only major mountain pass within the area; other nearby alternatives are footpaths across higher mountains at an altitude of above 2,000 metres (6,600 feet). As a result, air andnoise pollution have generated heavy debate in regional and European politics. As of 2004[update], about 1.8 million trucks crossed the Europa Bridge per year.[9]
In order to ease the road traffic, there are plans to upgrade theBrenner Railway from Verona to Innsbruck with a series of tunnels, including theBrenner Base Tunnel underneath Brenner.[10] The official groundbreaking of the tunnel took place in 2006 (with survey tunnels drilled in the same year), but substantial work did not begin until 2011. Funding issues have delayed the tunnel's scheduled date of completion from 2022 to no earlier than 2032.[11]
On Wednesday, Austria outlined plans to erect a 370 meter-long fence at the Brenner Pass, which is the busiest route through the Alps for heavy goods vehicles, but Sobotka said on Thursday it would be used only to "channel" people and was not a barrier.
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