Pfalzen is a comune

Comune

In Italy, the comune is the basic administrative division, and may be properly approximated in casual speech by the English word township or municipality.-Importance and function:...

(municipality) in South Tyrol

South Tyrol

South Tyrol , also known by its Italian name Alto Adige, is an autonomous province in northern Italy. It is one of the two autonomous provinces that make up the autonomous region of Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol. The province has an area of and a total population of more than 500,000 inhabitants...

 in the Italian

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

 region Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol, located about 100 km northeast of Trento

Trento

Trento is an Italian city located in the Adige River valley in Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol. It is the capital of Trentino...

 and about 50 km northeast of Bolzano.

Geography

As of 30 November 2010, it had a population of 2,612 and an area of 33.3 km².

The municipality of Pfalzen contains the frazioni

Frazione

A frazione , in Italy, is the name given in administrative law to a type of territorial subdivision of a comune; for other administrative divisions, see municipio, circoscrizione, quartiere...

(subdivisions, mainly villages and hamlets) Greinwalden (Grimaldo) and Issing (Issengo).

Pfalzen borders the following municipalities: Bruneck

Bruneck

Bruneck is the largest town in the Puster Valley in the Italian province of South Tyrol. Bruneck lies at the confluence of the Ahr with the Rienz Bruneck is the largest town in the Puster Valley in the Italian province of South Tyrol. Bruneck lies at the confluence of the Ahr with the Rienz...

, Kiens

Kiens

Kiens is a comune in South Tyrol in the Italian region Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol, located about 100 km northeast of Trento and about 50 km northeast of Bolzano.-Geography:...

, Gais, St. Lorenzen

St. Lorenzen

St. Lorenzen is a comune in South Tyrol in the Italian region Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol, located about 100 km northeast of Trento and about 50 km northeast of Bolzano...

 and Mühlwald

Mühlwald

Mühlwald is a comune in South Tyrol in the Italian region Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol, located about 110 km northeast of Trento and about 60 km northeast of Bolzano , on the border with Austria.-Geography:...

.

Coat-of-arms

The escutcheon is party per pale

Division of the field

In heraldry, the field of a shield can be divided into more than one area of different tinctures, usually following the lines of one of the ordinaries and carrying its name...

 of gules

Gules

In heraldry, gules is the tincture with the colour red, and belongs to the class of dark tinctures called "colours". In engraving, it is sometimes depicted as a region of vertical lines or else marked with gu. as an abbreviation....

 and argent

Argent

In heraldry, argent is the tincture of silver, and belongs to the class of light tinctures, called "metals". It is very frequently depicted as white and usually considered interchangeable with it...

; with a sickle

Sickle

A sickle is a hand-held agricultural tool with a variously curved blade typically used for harvesting grain crops or cutting succulent forage chiefly for feeding livestock . Sickles have also been used as weapons, either in their original form or in various derivations.The diversity of sickles that...

 in each side of opposite color. It is the coat of arms of the Plazoll zu Assling, Lords of Pfalzen in the Middle Ages, who built the castle of Sichelburg (sichel in German means sickle). The emblem was adopted in 1967.

Linguistic distribution

According to the 2001 census, 97.31% of the population speak German, 1.78% Italian and 0.91% Ladin

Ladin

Ladin is a language consisting of a group of dialects spoken in the Dolomite Mountains in Northern Italy in the border regions of the provinces Trentino, South Tyrol and Belluno...

as first language.

External links

Homepage of the municipality