The hills of Salzburg are once again alive with music, as the von Trapp family's villa opened its doors as a hotel and museum.

The villa in Aigen, a suburb of Salzburg, was formerly the home for more than 15 years of Captain von Trapp, his seven children and his sick daughter Maria's nursemaid Maria who became the second Frau von Trapp.  Together the von Trapps inspired a Broadway musical, an Oscar-winning film and some of the best-loved characters on the silver screen.

70 years ago the von Trapp family fled from their home as the Nazis took over Austria.  70 years later in her first visit back to the villa Maria von Trapp, now age 93, spent three nights sleeping in her brother's former bedroom in the villa. 

Von Trapp remembered that she was the last to leave the house. "It was in October of 1938. My father gave me the keys. He said: Lock the house," she said at a press conference on Friday. 

The 9, 450 square foot 22 bedroom villa and its 8.6-acre park, which former Austrian navy captain Georg von Trapp bought after the death of his first wife Agathe -- the grand-daughter of British torpedo inventor Robert Whitehead --  was not the villa used in the movie The Sound of Music.  Instead, nearby Schloss Frohnburg and Schloss Leopoldskron stood in for the estate, with indoor scenes shot on a soundstage in Hollywood.

But the original mansion with its imperial yellow facade, white borders and dark green shutters, surrounded by trees, offers what no film location can: a sense of history.

The late-19th century mansion by Italian architect Valentin Ceconi was the home of Captain von Trapp and his seven children -- their real names: Rupert, Agathe, Maria, Werner, Hedwig, Johanna and Martina -- from 1923 to 1938.

And this is where "Fraeulein Maria" -- actually Maria Kutschera, a novitiate of the Nonnberg Benedictine convent in Salzburg -- was first introduced to the children and her future husband whom she married in 1927. 

The estate was confiscated by the Nazis during World War II and put at the disposal of SS police chief Heinrich Himmler who used it as his private home during the war.

After the war, while the von Trapps built a new life in America, their villa was bought by priests from a Catholic religious foundation known as the Missionaries of the Holy Blood.

The villa turned hotel will be billed as an event location catering to weddings, dinners and evern offering cakes made from one of Maria von Trapp's own recipes.

Starting in 2009, the Villa Trapp will also organise another true Austrian tradition: a grand annual summer ball.

Meanwhile, guests can stay in the suite that once served as Captain von Trapp's office, or in the parlour in which the family took their afternoon tea.

"In each hallway, in each corner, you will find a piece of the history of a world-famous family," boasts the villa's website.

 Appropriately, the villa's opening coincides with two important dates on the Austrian calendar.

2008 marks the 70th anniversary of the Anschluss, or annexation of Austria and the von Trapps' departure for the United States, where they would ultimately settle down in Vermont.

The Villa Trapp's inauguration also came a day before the opening of the world-renowned annual Salzburg Festival, in which the von Trapp family singers won their first prize in 1937, before playing in venues around Europe and the United States.

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The von Trapps in America 1938 - Present


http://www.sound-of-music.com/story/vermont.shtml

Starting a Life in Vermont

In 1941, the Trapp family bought a large farm in Vermont, in a countryside very similar to the Austrian landscape near Salzburg that they missed. The house they lived in was called "Cor Unum", which means "one heart".
On May 30th, 1947, Georg Ritter von Trapp passed away in Stowe. He is buried in the family cemetery in a meadow behind the lodge.









When their singing career came to an end, after nearly twenty years of concerts in over thirty countries, they turned their big Austrian chalet into a lodge. In December 1980, their lodge burned to the ground. The future loomed before them-and they immediately planned to rebuild. The new Trapp Family Lodge is built for the future with the flavour of the past.

A logical outgrowth of the Lodge and its rebuilding has been the Family Guest House program. Offered on a timeshare basis, the guest houses have helped the Trapp family to avoid disappointing the many people who are unable to get reservations in the limited number of lodge rooms. Guest house ownership assures accommodations at your favourite place when you want it.

On March 28th, 1987, Maria Augusta passed away in Stowe. She rests next to her husband in the family cemetery.

The Trapp family first started welcoming guests to their 27-room lodge in the summer of 1950. Thirty-three years later the family opened its doors to a new 93-room resort with the same country charm as the original lodge. The Lodge continues to be owned and operated by the Trapp family, the inspiration for the classic musical and movie "The Sound of Music."

Today, the 2,400-acre resort with sweeping mountain views provides accommodations in an Austrian-style Main Lodge with 96 rooms and suites, 100 2-bedroom Guest Houses (time shared) and 16 luxurious 3-bedroom Villas (Fractional and whole ownership). Talented chefs prepare European specialties in The Dining Room, The Lounge and the Austrian Tea Room, complemented by nightly entertainment. First-class facilities are available for meetings and weddings.

Year-round recreational activities include cross-country skiing and hiking on over 100km of trails, tennis, croquet, snowshoeing, sleigh rides, children's programs, maple sugaring, workouts in the Fitness Center, music lessons, guided nature walks, swimming, An Afternoon with the Pastry Chef, and much more!