Merano Hippodrome

THE ORIGINAL MERANO RACECOURSE


It was on 7 April 1886 that the first horse races in Merano/Meran were staged on the green lawns of the former Grand Hotel Meranerhof. An unexpectedly large number of spectators turned up to watch three heats: a Haflinger (a local breed of farm horse) gallop, a men's, and a mixed race. The participants of that very first gallop race were actually farmers dressed in traditional apparel, a custom which persists even today. The Haflinger Gallop Race is held on Easter Monday.

MERANO-MAIA/MAIS SPORTS ARENA


Following the unexpected success of the early horse races, the new Merano-Maia sports arena was opened in 1900. Besides the traditional Haflinger race (which still attracts foreign entrants and spectators), it didn’t take long for international participants to arrive.

HORSE RACING IN MERANO


After the outbreak of the First World War, horse racing in Merano immediately came to a standstill but by the end of the war a different order had taken over. The Italian Fascist authorities commissioned architect Paolo Vietti Violi to design a new race track, which was inaugurated on 30 August 1935. With its grandstands built in the typical rationalist style, the first “Corsa dei milioni” race took place on 20 October 1935. Now known as the “Grand Prix of Merano”, this competition still continues today.

DID YOU KNOW?

• The Merano Thermal Baths lie on the same site as the former Grand Hotel Meranerhof.

• The Merano tennis courts and campsite are on the old site of the former Merano-Maia sports arena, where the first football match in South Tyrol was staged on 28 April 1901. Golf, tennis, polo, and hockey games all took place at the old sports arena.

• Occupying 40 hectares and with a five-kilometre racetrack the Merano race course is one of the largest horse racing courses in Europe.