We sit in the shade, the stone walls of Sigmundskron castle surround us, and calm and tranquillity settle in. Hidden in the stones, but sometimes openly exposed, I spy sacred figures and read passages of quotations. Although the motorway runs right past South Tyrol's oldest castle, all I can hear here is birdsong, the voices of museum visitors and helicopters landing at the nearby Bolzano hospital. Blue eyes flash beneath his thick grey and white hair. When Reinhold Messner tells a story, he takes his time. After all, there is much to say and many experiences to share. Politically, he does not hold back. He is provocative, calls it like he sees it, and wants us to stop and think. He also enjoys a good discussion and is very knowledgeable. But his favourite thing is action.

Mountain farmer is his job title and it has been written on his identity card for 30 years. In a small, remote valley in South Tyrol, in the Villnösstal valley, Reinhold Messner grew up the son of the village teacher. He found it fascinating that farmers had so much autonomy. "Every farm," as Messner points out in his book "Selbstversorger & Bergbauer," "was a state within a state; the farmer was in charge." I wonder if that's why he purchased Schloss Juval castle; so that he could finally be the farmer he always wished to be?

On my way to Firmian, I thought to myself, ‘First a mountaineer and now a mountain farmer.’ Mr. Messner, have you always felt at home in nature and the mountains?

These days, I define myself more as a mountain farmer than as a mountaineer even though I do not perform the manual tasks of a farmer. I don't chop wood anymore, I don't have the time, and I'm getting older. But I still define myself as a mountain farmer. I am and always have been connected to the world of farming and I am very concerned about the state of mountain farmers in South Tyrol. I pay close attention to the price of milk. If the milk price drops below 40 cents per litre, farmers in South Tyrol will no longer be able to stay on their farms.

Over and over, you keep repeating that farmers are essential to the region, to any region.

Absolutely. Our well-tended, cultivated landscape is essential to the future of South Tyrol. It is crucial to the South Tyrolean flair. The settlement of the mountains in South Tyrol is a great treasure and this treasure must be preserved, no matter what. Farmers must be able to work, and they must be supported in doing so. It makes no difference whether a ski slope is carved into the Kronplatz or whether a farmer cuts his timber in order to sell it, as has been the case for the last 100 years, it is making use of the cultivated area. To speak about the destruction of the wilderness here is simply wrong.

Juval is a magical place. I explored the castle a few years ago with my kids. The masks, the frescoes, the old walls - with pure nature all around - it is a perfect mix. I have always wanted to meet the person behind it all. I just met his daughter, Magdalena, who left her office briefly for a photo shoot. Now I'm sitting at the table with Reinhold Messner. What interests me: Did he come to Juval, or did Juval come to him? How did the two meet?

Have you ever been deterred by resistance? There have been quite a few challenges over the course of the last 25 years when you built the museums.

Personally, I have nothing against resistance. The mountains are places of resistance. For Hannibal, the Alps were a source of resistance. I must also say: I owe the greatness of all the museums to resistance. To quote Goethe, "Great things can be built from stones placed in one's path." When I bought Juval, ten tourists a year happened to pass by. Today, there are as many as 50,000 annually.

Messner has accomplished a lot. That is an understatement. He has accomplished incredible things. That which he takes on, succeeds. Juval is a prime example. The farm shop, in which 80 Vinschgau farmers are united in a cooperative, works. The Oberortl and Unterortl farms are successful, his residential castle has been perfectly renovated, and so too have the Sigmundskron and Bruneck castles. He is a border crosser, a soloist, a pioneer. He is also a preserver, and an agent of change at the same time. He loves to tell stories, and he writes books "only once a year." He has toned down his frenetic pace a bit of late. He wants to give people personal responsibility, show them that they can do it. He is always different, and yet the same. He adapts and yet always goes his own self-determined way. This is what mountaineers do, and what mountain farmers must also achieve. For an entire lifetime. Does a person such as Messner still have desires? I ask him:

What do you wish for, Mr. Messner?

His voice softens and his societal concern to pass on culture merges with a personal one. "With all my heart, I wish my daughter Magdalena success in managing the museums, because I know how hard it is to keep museums alive.”

Text: Ursula Lüfter
Photos: Alex Filz
Video: Alexander Schiebel
Year of publication: 2016 - Stories from South Tyrol