Schgaguler Hotel

The render on the Schgaguler Hotel has chalk mixed into it, and its colour was taken from the rock of the mountains around Castelrotto, with the Schlern above the village for comparison. Peter Pichler rebuilt the hotel of 1986 in 2018 under a row of pitched roofs and hung a white concrete frame over the front, so each balcony sits in a box of its own and the top-floor windows run up into the points of the gables. Just behind them rises the onion dome of the village church. The rooms are white and soft grey, with light local wood for desks and headboards and windows that go from floor to ceiling, and in case the windows are not enough, the walls carry large photographs of the peaks by Martin Schgaguler, of the family. In the spa the 14-metre pool is heated, and the bio-sauna uses hay and dried herbs from a herb farm nearby.

Recommended for couples who want modern architecture in an old mountain village, and for families, since the Family Suites have two bedrooms and sleep four. Half board is offered. Giuseppe Petrosino cooks old Alpine recipes with a Mediterranean hand, served in wooden alcoves modelled on the farmhouse Stube, with South Tyrolean wines chosen by Sandra Schgaguler and eight grappas from Zu Plun, a distillery nearby. The days go uphill: a shuttle runs to the cable car at Siusi, about ten minutes away, for the Alpe di Siusi, Europe's largest high-altitude Alpine meadow, and the hotel arranges guided hikes and ski tours. Afterwards there is a hot tub on a wooden terrace and a sun deck of local pine facing the Schlern, which had the colour first.