New Nights: How South Tyrol's Nightlife Is Reinventing Itself

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The ORF special "Südtirol heute" from 31 May 2026 took a look at how and where people in South Tyrol go out today – from the Lederhosen party to the classic club, from pop-up events to alternative daytime festivals. The finding in one sentence: people still dance, just differently.

I'm no longer part of the crowd the report is about. I simply don't go to these things anymore. It used to be different – back then it was the local bars and inns, and then the discos, above all the Derby in Sterzing (Vipiteno). Which makes it all the more interesting to watch from the outside how things have shifted since.

The Disco Loses Its Self-Evidence

The report's verdict is clear: the classic disco is dying. According to the piece, more than 30 percent of Europe's clubs have disappeared over the past ten years – almost half in Germany, around a quarter in Italy. German even has its own word for it now: Clubsterben, "club death." In South Tyrol, too, many doors are shut for good: Fix, Schnalserhof, Traindler, Juwel, La Perla, Exclusive – all closed. Some villages no longer have a disco at all.

One of the few exceptions is Club Max in Brixen (Bressanone), one of the last large clubs still open. Owner Felix Taschler – also head of the HGV's disco trade group – has watched visitor numbers fall for years, and grow far less regular: instead of coming weekly, many now show up just once a month, drink less, and want to be fit again the next day. An Ö3 youth study fits the picture: 77 percent of 16- to 25-year-olds believe discos and clubs are losing importance.

Gen Z Parties Differently – Not Less

The young generation doesn't party in a fixed venue but on specific occasions: flat and house parties in a "protected space," outdoor and pop-up events promoted via social media, with DJs who otherwise only play big cities. Young crews turn a parking lot, a garden or a hall into an event – with good sound, a light show and plenty of attention to detail. The key point: it no longer runs deep into the night, because people have something planned for Sunday.

At the same time, far less is drunk. DJ and organizer Matthias Pixner from Klobenstein (Collalbo) speaks of "barely more than one drink per guest" – good for health, hard for a venue that lives off it. That said, less boozing isn't true everywhere: at the village festivals in the countryside, as the report itself shows, the alcohol still flows freely.

Covid, Phones and Vanished Subcultures

Two things accelerated the shift. First, Covid: an entire cohort simply never "learned" to go out, the thrill and the buzz never developed. Second, social media: subcultures like skaters, punks, ravers or gabbers have vanished; instead of talking, people show each other reels on their phones. "A bit more boring," as one person puts it in the report.

Three Answers to the Same Question

The report shows three formats filling the vacuum:

The Brake: Bureaucracy

There's no shortage of ideas, but young organizers complain about licenses, regulations and municipalities that make concepts collapse before they start. Often, they say, the town hall "puts something in the way," and it becomes hard to pull off anything cool. That the administrative apparatus hasn't gotten any leaner is – as so often – probably a good part of the explanation.

Conclusion

Going out is shifting from fixed venues toward single, special moments: less fixed, less regular, more tied to mood, friends and the moment. The desire to celebrate is unbroken – only the places and the regularity have clearly changed. Or, as the report sums it up: the night always finds a new place.

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