History(s): Thousands of years old river crossing
In Algund there was most probably a river crossing already in Roman and pre-Roman times. The place, where also today a bridge over the Adige is located, was the last possibility to cross the river relatively easily, before the river with its water, the carried debris, alluvial forests, swamps, ... dominated the whole valley, except for some debris cones on the right and on the left. Bridges south of Algundo were therefore much longer and more complex to build, which is why there were few of them and - where at all possible - supra-regional roads have run along the right and left of the Adige since time immemorial. Incidentally, the bridgehead of the medieval bridge can be admired in the Bridgehead Museum in Algund near the swimming pool, directly on the Adige River.
History(s): The Via Claudia Augusta makes provincial capitals
When the Romans built the first "Alpine highway", they did not choose this route for nothing. At that time it was the easiest route over the central Alps, because on the Brenner route not only 2 but 3 passes had to be overcome, including the Ritten Pass between Bolzano and Chiusa. In 200 A.D. the Romans succeeded in building a road through the valley narrows, thus for the first time in history the Brenner route took over from the Via Claudia Augusta as the most important Alpine crossing. However, the valley route fell into disrepair with the Roman Empire and the Via Claudia Augusta over the Reschen and Fernpasses again became the most important road for centuries in the Middle Ages. Incidentally, this was the longest period in which the Via Claudia Augusta was number one. Due to its location on the road, Merano was able to develop into the first capital of the county of Tyrol. When towards the end of the Middle Ages the Bolzano merchant Kunter again built a road on the traces of the Roman road through the narrow valley between Bolzano and Chiusa, the Brenner route outstripped the Reschen route as the most important crossing of the Alps, and the city of Innsbruck outstripped the city of Merano.