Lake Reschen

Today, the beautiful bell tower peaking up from the Reschen lake's waters, represents one of the most loved places to take pictures in Vinschgau. It is one of the places tourists love the most, even though not everyone knows the sad story that lies behind this attraction.

Nature hotels in South Tyrol

Since about the middle of last century, the town of Graun in the Reschen pass region has been lying under the lake's surface. That story begins when, between 1948 and 1950, the big Electric Company Montecatini came to this area to make good business out of nature's power. That is the reason why the company wanted to build a huge dam which buried Graun under water.

500 hectares of cultivated ground and more than 150 houses were drowned. Lots of families, in spite of the little money the company gave them, had a present with no future. Some moved away, some others tried to build a new life and home in upper Graun, where they still live today.

Nature's wounds have been healed quite fast, but the ones in people's hearts are still there, in the hearts and remembering of the ones who saw their home sinking. Today, the bell tower is surely a nice spot to take a beautiful picture, but surely, if you will visit Graun, one thought about what happen will come to your mind and, maybe, you will look down in the Lake Reschen and imagine the town sleeping underneath the water.