Fateful decisions, dramatic experiences and surprising developments: Grotthof has an eventful history. A history that is closely linked to the naming of the valley "Eggental". But let's start at the beginning...
The farm was first mentioned in 1237. At that time it was called Eck-Hof of "Seiurid de Ecke" (Siegfried von Ecke). In 1310, Chunradus von Ecke and his son Ullinus lived on the farm. While the lord of the farm was the monastery of the Au near Bolzano, the forest behind the house, known as "Carneid Egg", was leased to the Bishopric of Trento.
The "half farm on Eghke" is mentioned around 1448. It is likely that the farm was already divided at that time. The church in the village of Eggen is first mentioned in 1498, then as the church in Egken.
The Eck-Hof, as it was called until then, was officially divided in 1519. This is how the Untereckerhof (today's Kobhof) came into being. At the same time, the Eckhof was renamed the Obereckerhof, which at the time was also known as the Himblhof (Himmelhof). The name Himmelhof accompanied the present-day Grotthof in the court books until around 1800 and was known as such in the vernacular until the beginning of the 20th century.
The weather cross is still the landmark of the Grotthof. It still stands between the house and the barn and has been continuously renovated since 1519. It is the central feature of the Grotthof: It is immortalised as the farm's seal, is used to mark boundary stones/posts and tools, and can be found symbolically around the farm, including on the gable of the house. It also adorns the old Eggental women's costume and our current logo.
In 1537, the Untereckerhof was divided into the Chobhof (today's Kob) and the Ruepphof (today's Ruep). The name Obereckerhof also disappeared in 1594: the Obereckerhof was again called Egghof or Himmlhof.
The name "Grotthof" was first mentioned in 1634 and is derived from the written name "Grott". In 1550 Steffan Grott lived at Himmlhof. However, Grott disappeared as a surname in 1569, as Steffan's descendant - Christian - had no male descendants. Of his three daughters, Eva became a farmer at Himmlhof. Interestingly, the surname Grott was also used on the Moserhof and the Gaspererhof in Nova Ponente at that time.
A major fire in 1671 almost destroyed the Grotthof, burning it to the ground. The damage is still visible in the deep cellar of the house. Old house letters and "letter judges" were destroyed in the fire. Times were anything but easy for the owners of the Grotthof and the neighbouring farms. Jakob Pfeifer, the owner at the time, had to sell the woods under the Kleetalweg in 1753 because of high debts. His son, Josef Pfeifer, was even more in debt and had to sell the farm at auction in 1786.
Ulrich Pichler, an ancestor of Markus Pichler, bought the farm in 1786 for 1,800 guilders. Since then, the Pichler family has lived at the Grotthof and found a special home there. In 1986, the then owner, Anton Pichler, was awarded the title of "Erbhof" by the South Tyrolean government, as the farm has been in the family for over 200 years.
You may be wondering how this large farm could have given its name to the whole valley. The first mention of a church in Egken dates back to 1498. At that time the Grotthof and two neighbouring farms were called Eckhöfe. The Eckental was first mentioned in 1605. In 1681, in order to establish the pastoral care in Eggen, which until then had belonged to the parish of Nova Ponente, some houses on the Kardaunerbach were separated from the neighbouring village of Gummer. Even the village of Eggen was then called Eggental, a name that has since been extended to include the Gerold and Kardauner brooks. The Kardauner stream became the Eggentaler stream and the gorge the Eggentaler gorge.
