Puster Valley
The district community of Puster Valley was founded in 1969 with the merger of 26 municipalities. Its combined area is 2,071 km² and its population is over 73,000. Its main town is Bruneck. According to the 2001 census, 81% of the population of Puster Valley speaks German as a first language, 13% Ladin, and 6% Italian.
Puster Valley (green) and the rest of the province of the South Tyrol (yellow)
Puster Valley (Italian: Val Pusteria; German: Pustertal), also known as the "Green Valley", is a valley in the Alps that runs in an east-west direction between Lienz in Tyrol, Austria and Mühlbach near Brixen (Bressanone) in South Tyrol, Italy. The area marked in green depicts Puster Valley. The Puster Valley is located in the western part of the Periadriatic Seam, which separates the Southern Limestone Alps from the Central Alps (and also most of the limestone Alps from the central gneiss and slate peaks of the range's central section). The towns of Puster Valley are situated between 750 and 1,180 meters above sea level. The most important of these towns in the western valley are Toblach, Welsberg, Olang, and Bruneck; the most important in the eastern valley are Innichen, Sillian, and Mittewald.
Road map
The countryside in Puster Valley
In Puster Valley there are many mountains which are higher than 3,000 meters above sea level.
The Three Pinnacles (Drei Zinnen) in the Dolomites
There are also a lot of valleys within Puster Valley, for example, Gader Valley, Ahrn Valley, Gsieser Valley, Antholz Valley, etc. The largest tributaries of the Rienz river form the Antholzer Bach, the Ahr, the Pragser Bach, the Gsieser Bach, the Gader, the Pfunderer Bach, and the Lüsenbach. The Pustertal's largest side valley is the Tauferer-Ahrntal. The Drava's largest eastern tributaries are the Sextner Bach and the Villgraten-Bach.
The Rienz River near St. Lorenzen
Jobs in Puster Valley
Source: Astat Census, 2001
Vocations (people aged 15 and up)
| People in the workforce |
Men |
Women |
| 35,094 |
21,011 |
14,083 |
| People not in the workforce (pupils, students, household managers, pensioners) |
Men |
Women |
| 24,452 |
8.723 |
115.729 |
| Unemployed |
Men |
Women |
| 903 |
343 |
560 |
| People in the workforce |
Men |
Women |
| 34,191 |
20,668 |
13,523 |
| |
Men |
Women |
| Employees |
14,378 ( = 69 %) |
10,813 ( = 80%) |
| |
Men |
Women |
| Employers |
6,290 ( = 31 %) |
2,710 ( = 20 %) |
Branches in the Economy
| Agriculture |
Construction |
Industry |
Commerce and tourism |
| 3,059 |
3,742 |
6,961 |
8,939 |
| Transport and communication |
Banks and services for enterprises |
Other services |
| 1,120 |
2,061 |
8,309 |
Housing in Puster Valley
The populated area of the South Tyrol is 19,698 ha, which means a population density of 2.66% of the total land area (739,980 ha). The Puster Valley is even more sparsely populated than the South Tyrol, with a population density of 2.06 % of the total land area (206,879 ha). The city of Bozen, however, has a population density of 26.91 %. In general, one can say that apart from some larger towns, the population density of the South Tyrol is relatively low due to the mountainous countryside.
Population density in the South Tyrol
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 |
| The village of Meransen |
The town of Bruneck |
Single-family detached homes, semi-detached homes, and apartment houses are typical kinds of housing in Puster Valley. As a rule, buildings are made of brick, but recently, prefabricated houses are also being built. Low-energy houses are becoming more and more popular. Traditional farm houses are the oldest kind of housing in Puster Valley. Recently, many new farm houses have been built. Larger construction companies also build hotels and industrial structures.
 |
 |
 |
| A single-family home, |
semi-detached homes, |
and an apartment house |
 |
 |
| An old traditional farm house, |
and a newly built one |
 |
 |
 |
A low-energy house
built by Rubner AG |
Parkhotel Bellevue, Toblach |
An industrial structure
built by Stoll & Bachmann |
