History
Among the quiet peaks of the Dolomites lies a place that has never quite belonged to the ordinary.
Castel Badia was born in the 11th century, on a hill settled since the Stone Age. Count Otwin von Lurngau was its founder. Known in German as Sonnenburg (literally “castle of the sun,” but formerly intended as “fortress of judgment”), it also gave its name to the valley it overlooks and has shaped the region ever since.
It was Otwin’s son, Volkhold, who turned it into a Benedictine monastery: the first female monastery in the historical region of Tyrol.
Yet what rose here was no typical abbey. It was led by learned, independent abbesses, guardians of freedom and dialogue with the wider world. Among them, Verena von Stuben, an emblematic figure of the 15th century, who defended the convent’s autonomy and led the abbesses with resolve during conflicts with the bishopric.
In 1598, fire swept through the castle and after centuries of changes, the monastery was finally dissolved in 1785. Silence returned, and ivy claimed the stone. History became echo.
But some stories are never truly over.
Today, Castel Badia lives again, reviving its ancient soul and becoming a fortified haven where the present lingers gently in every detail, never betraying memory. Every stone has been restored with reverence: frescoes uncovered, original plaster preserved, ruins reclaimed, museum spaces brought to life.
To walk these halls is to leaf through an ancient book.
And once inside, you too become part of the story.