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Historic: How did the Batzenhäusl get its unusual name?

Did the place once specialise in wine rather than beer?

Yes, the Batzenhäusl made its name with Magdalener wine. One of the secrets of its success was that it was able to offer stable prices during an economic crisis.

Bad times reveal best who is a good innkeeper…

When there’s a crisis you see what people care about. And the Batzenhäusl has had many crises. Its history is informed by many changes of ownership. The Teutonic Order ran the place the longest, it had opened a pub there in 1404. Despite all the turmoil, the Batzenhäusl is regarded as one of the oldest guesthouses in South Tyrol. Of course there are buildings with older walls, but the Batzenhäusl has been run as a guesthouse since way back in 1404.

Didn’t the Batzenhäusl have some famous guests, such as the painter Franz Defregger?

Yes, he would visit Bolzano for extended periods of time twice a year; he stayed in his mansion in the borough of Rentsch. In addition to being a well-known painter, Defregger was so charismatic that many fellow artists came to see him in Bolzano. They would meet here at the Batzenhäusl. The old parlour from 1680 is full of their names and carvings they left around 1880.

When Defregger died in 1925, he was one of eleven artists in the German-speaking area that had lived to become millionaires.

The innkeepers at his time, Engelbert Trebo and Maria Prader knew how to get in with the artists. And they recognised the value of their art. A pork knuckle for a painting, that’s quite a good deal! (Laughs.) Most of the originals are now at Prösels Castle.

It was Defregger who gave the Batzenhäusl its reputation as an artists’ shack…

That’s partly thanks to clever marketing. An antiquarian told me that no guesthouse in Central Europe distributed more postcards into the world than the Batzenhäusl in Bolzano. I still have people coming with old postcards saying: ‘Give me a free beer and you can have them!’ There even used to be a guesthouse on Marienplatz in Munich named ‘Bozener Batzenhäusl’. Kufstein, Merano, and many other places in South and North Tyrol have ‘Batzenhäusls’ named after ours.

How did the building become yours?

Somewhat by accident. I married young - right here in this building. Years later, my wife and I returned here on one of our anniversaries. The innkeepers at the time weren’t even tenants, only sub-tenants, and they told us they were looking for new challenges. The owners, two old ladies from Varna, had died and the heirs were likely to sell the house. I asked them to give me a number for those heirs and called them immediately. They replied, ‘Glad you called; we’re just sitting here discussing what to do.’

What intrigued you about the Batzenhäusl?

I’ve always had a thing for old buildings. Atmosphere is underestimated as a factor of being successful in the hosting business. Often the architecture looks great from the outside, but once you go inside you find there is no atmosphere. Old buildings on the other hand have it automatically. That’s kind of a safe bet. (Laughs.)

You know a lot about the history of the building…

I used to know even more, but I’ve forgotten some of it. (Laughs.) I like to make sure I know the places I buy, so I do some heavy research. The Batzenhäusl, for example, did not always have this name. In the beginning, it was called ‘Zum Postbaum’, because there was a turnpike here, a kind of customs station. When people wanted to enter Valle Isarco from the south, they needed to pass the city gates - and this place. It was an excellent location for a guesthouse.

What do you do to maintain a house like this? What do you do to maintain a house like this?

Maintaining it consumes a lot of time and money. That’s in part because the business is indeed very busy; we hand out close to a thousand meals a day. We are open seven days a week and we make our own beer. It’s a high-frequency operation, which of course wears things out.

Still you take good care of the building…

Once a year I go through everything with a conservator. What’s good about old things is that they are made of materials that are easy to repair. Another question is how far you want to go when preserving something. Our philosophy is to leave some patina to the point where things don’t appear filthy but show that they have been allowed some life. Life is an important part of a real guesthouse. If things are too perfect, that creates barriers. I want everybody to feel welcome, without any reservations.

Just like the popular pub of the early days…

That’s what I want to keep doing as a host. I want to be a service provider for everybody, a supply station. That’s why we are open all week. It makes me sick to see all the guests travelling to Bolzano for the Christmas market¾but then come the holidays and all the businesses are closed! We are the only place that is open during those days, and people are grateful for it. I believe being an innkeeper comes with a mission. It’s a lot of work, sure. But I’m going to go out on a limb and say that this attitude will allow us to continue the history of the Batzenhäusl for a couple of decades.