History

The following shortened article by Hans Fink (1975) about the local history of South Tyrol gives you an insight into the eventful history of Pfrein.

Farms between Rocks and Clouds

Article about the Local History of South Tyrol

Pfrein was firstly mentioned in a document as “Guet zu Pfrein” in the year 1415. 150 years later, in 1564, already two farms were mentioned, which were called Ober- and Unterpfrein and whose owner was Anton Pfreiner. The turning point from the 15^th to the 16^th century was known as the period of land hardship in Tyrol. The large wound of the plague’s intrusion in 1348 had already been healed and the farms overflowed with the wealth of children. Nobody knew about emigration and the mountain blessing, which once provided many people with bread and work, fell asleep after the discovery of America.

Thus, what else could the people do, as moving to the outermost edge and inside into the remotest valleys, where they were facing timber line and the glacier.

The name Pfrein originated from the Rhaeto-Romanic and developed from „vorgo-vorgín“ to „frena-fraina“ and finally to Pfrein meaning “landslide, mudflow“ or “steep terrain“.

Later Pfrein grew together to one farm covering a property of 81.5 ha. That sounds encouraging, but loses its nimbus immediately when we hear that only 5 ha were usable. 55 ha were covered by forest and 21 ha could be classified as completely unproductive because they consisted of rocks and steep terrains where even the edelweiss could be found. However, 10 cows and 20 goats were kept throughout the year but it cost a lot of diligence and sweat to cut the grass and carry it home on the back.

Around 1930 a new house was built at Unterpfrein. There were enough stones for the dry masonry and enough tree trunks. But a path to the sawmill was missing and they were forced to cut the wood to boards with a handsaw. This exhausting job was provided by the neighbours that earned five Lire a day, a sum which had the worth of five quarter litre of wine in the tavern.

The names of the long series of people living and giving birth to children in Pfrein had not been handed down. There are many stories about the in 1940 deceased Michael Mesner, who had been living in this wasteland with his wife and children and was called “Pfreiner Michele”.

This Michele was a man full of humour but he rarely came to Latzfons because – like his predecessors – he had to attend to his duties for the church. When he appeared in the village, the children admired and touched him like a creature from another world and the adults sounded him out.

As a result of the farm’s remoteness, the successors of Michele changed again and again. The last real Pfreiner, who also stayed in winter in this wasteland, was Josef Burger from Sarnthein, called the “Fleckinger”. On Tuesday in the Holy Week on 11th April 1960, he had to compete the long walk to Klausen to the butcher with some fawns in his rucksack. The path was still iced and Burger slipped and and fell from the White Wall into the ravine of the Schindel Valley, from where only his corpse could be retrieved. He was buried in Sarnthein. Despite this serious blow, the widow remained in Pfrein for another two years. It is said that somebody from the Steinerhof in Latzfons climbed up to the yoke to look if smoke rose to see if there was somebody alive.

In 1962 and 1963 people and animals overcame the winter in Pfrein for the last time. In the meantime, the Obermarzuner famer from Villanders had acquired the farm but only used it in the summer. He was eager to build a prompt access road from Villanders. So he became a pioneer. Don’t you think the recent reports about Pfrein sound like a legend? Wouldn’t they date back only 12 years, you might think of them as such.

Hans Fink

Pfrein Today