In Klagenfurt to celebrate the poetry of Ingeborg Bachmann

‘When we reach that lucid and heart-rending state in which pain becomes fruitful, we say, quite simply and rightly: “My eyes have been opened”.’ These and many other poignant verses by Ingeborg Bachmann, a leading figure of the twentieth century, come to mind; she has recently been rediscovered thanks to books published by Adelphi. Her adolescence spent on Henselstraße in Klagenfurt, Carinthia, proved fundamental to the subsequent development of her poetic style. A museum has now been established there, tracing all the major stages of her life, which began a century ago and came to an end in Rome in 1973. This Austrian town, moreover, has always been a fertile ground for literature; one need only think that Robert Musil was born there in 1880: the literary museum that now bears his name is located in his birthplace, opposite the railway station. Founded in 1246, and over the course of nearly eight centuries, it boasts the beautiful Landhaus, the 16th-century palace of the regional diet situated between Alter Platz and Heiligengeist Platz, its artistic and political jewel – one need only consider that the Hall of Coats of Arms contains no fewer than 665 coats of arms that once belonged to noble estates, provincial governors, lieutenants and administrators of Carinthia. The Carinthian Museum of Modern Art, housed within the Burghof, is well worth a visit, as are the interesting temporary exhibitions held at the Stadtgalerie and the Alpen-Adria-Galerie. The courtyards, hidden away within ancient noble and bourgeois palaces in the Baroque style, are particularly famous and charming. They are characterised by colonnaded porticoes and galleries overflowing with flowers, stone balconies, Biedermeier-style features, arches and funnel-shaped capitals, and staircases that wind upwards like snails. Among these, the building at number 1 Kardinal Platz, home to the Counts of Egger, stands out, along with the Bamberger Hof, the historic Altes Rathaus (Old Town Hall) and the Haus zur Goldenen Gans.

You certainly must explore Carinthia’s largest lake, the turquoise Wörthersee, against which the whole of Klagenfurt stands out (it has a surface area of 19.4 km² and is 16.5 kilometres long, which you can enjoy from early morning if you’re staying at the Park Hotel Portschach), whose eastern bay looks like a painting: at the beaches of Loretto and Maiernigg, which you can also reach by bike, you can go for a swim, and then perhaps head off to cool off in the Lendspitz nature reserve. Whilst waiting for sunset, you can enjoy the over one hundred attractions at Europa-Park, an amusement park that also boasts cultural highlights such as the large stone sculptures from the international sculpture symposia of 1968, 1969 and 1995. At Eis Paradies, you can enjoy the best ice cream in Austria.