Western Europe is vast. It stretches over 18 countries and across three time zones; cultures collide and currency is shared over nearly the entire continent. Yet there are few places like Bolzano, a quiet town that just as often goes by the name Bozen. The town is technically in Italy, but sits so close to Germany that the cultural border between the two disappears as if under the snow in the Alps.

This area is usually considered the epicenter of classic western culture, where old cathedrals and famous frescoes offer a view of the past handful of centuries. We came here for a past even more distant, and to find out what it can tell us about the future.

In 1991, hikers