Pfatten, situated south of Bozen, stretches like a narrow ribbon 14 km due south on the right bank of the Etsch River. In former times the river was navigable till Pfatten. A ford as well as the starting point for the route over the Kreither Saddle on the Mitterberg to the Überetsch region, have made the village an important junction. Today Pfatten is well known for its agricultural college for fruit-growing and viniculture, the former Manor Laimburg, which was made into an agricultural and forest research centre in 1975, and the 1934 established mental home of Stadelhof. Pfatten is one of the few villages in the province with an Italian majority.