San Lorenzo di Sebato

The village stands where the Val Pusteria meets the Val Badia, of which it is the first settlement. The name is attested as ad Sanctum Laurentium between 1060 and 1070; the di Sebato is recent, and comes from the Roman staging post of Sebatum, whose remains lie nearby: the comune was called San Lorenzo, then San Lorenzo in Pusteria, and took the Roman name in 1940. Since 2011 those finds, together with the history of the Saevates people and of the Roman mansio, have been in a museum in the village.

Towards the middle of the thirteenth century the bishop of Bressanone founded Brunico, and the counts of Tyrol answered by backing a rival town: they chose San Lorenzo, and supported it as long as they could not impose themselves on Brunico too. Until 1610 San Lorenzo was also the parish church of reference for Brunico, and the separation of that year marked the definitive overtaking. The coat of arms shows Saint Lawrence with the palm and the gridiron: it has been in use since the seventeenth century, but it already appears on seals in 1271. In 1939 bunkers of the Alpine Wall began to rise in this territory: Italy was fortifying its own border against a German invasion.