Getreidegasse, Salzburg

Getreidegasse is Salzburg's oldest trading street and one of the most atmospheric shopping lanes in the Alps. It runs through the Old Town beneath the cliffs of the Mönchsberg, lined with tall, narrow townhouses standing shoulder to shoulder. What turns it into a picture, though, is the forest of wrought-iron signs projecting over the street: the emblems of every kind of trade, made to be read from a distance in a lane too narrow for large painted boards. The tradition is so strong that international brands trading here commission their own ironwork signs to match.

The street is far older than its name. Around 1150 it was the Trabegasse, the road linking the medieval market centre to the suburb of Mülln to the north-west; the name later drifted into Getreidegasse, "grain lane", although grain had nothing to do with it. From the fourteenth century, rights granted by the prince-archbishops allowed the burghers to build rich trading houses here, and the plots behind them were developed in the sixteenth century. That is why the street is riddled with Durchhäuser, "through-houses": thirteen vaulted passages run through the ground floors, paved with Untersberg marble, opening onto arcaded inner courtyards with marble balustrades and stone reliefs. The even-numbered ones lead north towards the Salzach, the odd ones south to Universitätsplatz and its market.

At number 9, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was born in 1756, and he lived there until the age of seventeen. The International Mozarteum Foundation has kept a museum in the family apartment since 1880. Getreidegasse lies within the Historic Centre of the City of Salzburg, a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1996. The best way to see it is to wander slowly, looking up at the signs and slipping into every passage you find: the quiet courtyards behind the busy street are the real reward.

Getting there

Getreidegasse lies in the heart of Salzburg's Old Town. Salzburg Airport (SZG) is only about 3 km away. The street is a pedestrian zone and is best reached on foot.