The Schwarzer Adler’s 500 eventful years of history

1518

This year is carved in stone in the coat of arms located above the former entrance to the oldest inn in the heart of Siusi, the Schwarzer Adler-Unterwirt. However, 1518 is not the year when the building was constructed; the date refers to the opening of a bakery within the existing inn. The coat of arms contains the year, a pretzel and two bread rolls as well as two letters 'p' for 'Peckerpfister', i.e. baker. At the time it was actually quite common for innkeepers to also work as bakers. The building itself is much older. Its core in the deep two-storey cellar dates back to the 14th century. The right to run an inn was probably granted in the 15th century.

2018

500 years later the inn has become a small but refined hotel. We have celebrated this historic anniversary with our guests. Our hotel has grown with you over the centuries. You are the reason why we strive to keep the centennial tradition of our hotel upright in this fast-paced area. A big thank you for that!

Your Mutschlechner Family
Claudia, Patrizia and Ilsa

to the chronicle...

Postcard with the then clapboard Unterwirt around 1900 (C. Gasser)

The Schwarzer Adler with the new veranda, around 1930 (C. Gasser)

From our visitor's book

Amongst our regular guests are the author Karl Zuckmayr, the South Tyrolean historian Prof. Leo Santifaller, the South Tyrolean artist and painter Willi Valier, the painters Filippo de Pisis and Alfredo Beltrame, the German textile manufacturer Benno Geiger, the South Tyrolean author, actor and producer Luis Trenker, the ambassador to the Vatican Rudolf Graf von Strachwitz, the politician Rocco Buttiglione and the journalist Nello Ajello.

Johann Santner

Johann Santner was born in Eastern Tyrol and lived in Bolzano. He was a passionate mountaineer who gained everlasting fame by completing the first ascent of the Santner Peak, which is named after him. His account of his ascent of the great Sciliar peak begins with the following words: "On 1 July 1880, coming from Bolzano, i arrived at the 'Unterer Wirt' in Siusi, where some summer holidaymakers had joined with local people for a merry chat on the terrace of the house. My arrival immediately led the conversation to mountaineering and to the nearest peak of the Sciliar, which rises straight and wild from Siusi, and whose sight surely remains in the memory of everyone who has stayed in Siusi at least once."

Among the inhabitants of the Sciliar area, the big peak was considered inaccessible. But Santner wanted to prove that the ascent was possible. The next day he left in the early morning hours to climb the mountain. He indeed managed to reach the top of the mountain, or rather of the rock of colossal dimensions, as he himself called it. At first, many could not believe that Santner had actually made it, but after two more climbers had reached the summit on the route opened by him, the great Sciliar peak received his name. Today the locals simply call it 'the Santner'.

Arrival of guests at the Unterwirt, early 20th century (H. Rier)

From Anna Rauch’s cookery book

Anna Rauch from the small village of Tagusa near Castelrotto began her training in 1910 as a kitchen helper. A few year later, she was already employed as a cook in various hotels and guesthouses, both locally and abroad, which were famous for their good cuisine. At the time of her training she started writing her cookery book, a real treasure trove of Tyrolean, old Austrian and international recipes:

SACHER CAKE

(Original basic recipe with elucidation, since obvious passages were often not made explicit)

Whisk 140 g of butter until frothy, then add 6 yolks one by one, 140 g of sugar, lemon essence, 140 g of warmed-up chocolate, mix 100 g of bread crumbs with whipped egg whites. Put the mixture in the cake form and bake it in the oven. Cover with chocolate glaze.

Elucidation: Bake for 45 minutes at 180°C in the oven. Let the cake cool down, then spread apricot jam on the top. Let it dry a little, then cover with chocolate glaze. The cake can also be cut in half and filled with apricot jam.

Chocolate glaze
Ingridients: 3 tablespoons whipped cream, 100 g powdered sugar, 3 yolks, two rows of melted chocolate, 120 g butter. Whip the cream, sugar and yolk over steam to a dense cream. Let it cool down and add the softened chocolate and butter. Cover the cold cake with chocolate cream.