Brenner Pass - 10 Things to Know Before Visiting

Drive across it. That's all there is to do mostly. It's not the most eventful destination, but the views are nice if you're into road trips. In the valleys beneath the Brenner Pass and on the mountains above it, dairy cattle graze the Alpine pastures in summer. Since the pass is located at lower altitudes, farmers plant crops and harvest hay for winter fodder. 

The central section of the pass consists of a four-lane motorway and railway tracks. The village of Brenner consists majorly of small shops and basic amenities, with only a population of about a thousand people.

The motorway E45 begins in Innsbruck, runs through the Brenner Pass, Bozen/Bolzano, Verona and finishes outside Modena. Roughly halfway between Brenner Pass and Innsbruck is the Europabrücke (Europe Bridge)- the large six-lane Autobahn over the valley of Sill River (Wipptal). The bridge has a height of 180 meters and a length of 820 meters, and it is a site where bungee jumping is extremely popular.

The Brenner Pass has been an important strategic point for centuries, due to its location at the border between Austria and Italy. 

The pass was used and controlled by the Roman Empire from the 2nd century AD until the end of the empire in the 5th century AD. During this period, Alamanni- the confederation of Germanic tribes tried crossing the pass to Italy but they were stopped by the Romans at the  Battle of Lake Benacus.

Brenner Pass was part of an important imperial road linking the Kingdom of Germany with the Italian March of Verona during the high middle ages. The pass was controlled by the Counts of Tyrol within the Holy Roman Empire since the 12th century and the pass was already a trackway for mule trains and carts. A carriage road was laid out at the pass in 1777, thus beginning a modernisation.

Under the Austrian Empire, the modernisation of the pass continued. Brenner railway became the first trans-Alpine railway without any major tunnel and at a high altitude when its construction was completed in 1867. The completion of the railway helped the Austrians to move troops more efficiently to secure the territories of Venetia and Lombardy but lost them to Italy following the Second Italian War of Independence in 1859 and the Austro-Prussian War in 1866. After World War I, the control of the pass was shared between Austria and Italy.

The Brenner Pass is a beautiful mountain pass that offers stunning views of the Alpine scenery. The pass is open all year round, but the best time to visit is from June to September. The weather is at its most stable, and the days are long enough to enjoy all that the pass has to offer. The views from the pass are simply breathtaking.

1. Expect high traffic as freight and leisure traffic has been causing long traffic jams at busy times even without border enforcement.
2. If you are looking for a bit of adventure, check out the bungee-jumping from the Europa Bridge

1. Brenner pass is one of the most important transit routes between Northern and Southern Europe.
2. The pass has been under frequent use since the prehistoric eras- from the most recent Ice Age.
3. Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini met at the Brenner Pass to celebrate their Pact of Steel on 18 March 1940. 
4. The Brenner Pass was part of the ratlines that were used by nazis to flee Europe after the German surrender in 1945.

If you are looking for the whole experience of passing through the Brenner Pass, it will take roughly 4 hours (364 kilometres). You will have to start the journey at Innsbruck in Austria and drive through the scenic Alpine route to reach Modena in Italy.

From Innsbruck in Austria, you can drive for 30 minutes to reach the pass(40 kilometres). There are also trains from Innsbruck to Brenner Pass, which will take only 40 minutes. From the Italian side, you can drive to the pass or take a train from Sterzing - Pfitsch station to reach the pass. It will take only 25 minutes.

There is no fee for entrance to Brenner Pass.

Brenner Pass is open daily 24 hours.