In Burgeis, the Weisses Kreuz intertwines history, architecture, and well-being. And at MaMesa, by chef Marc Bernhart, the mountains meet the world through local ingredients, contemporary techniques, and international influences.
Burgeis is not a place that needs special effects. The small village in Upper Val Venosta still preserves that Alpine scale where history is not a backdrop, but part of daily life: ancient architecture, quiet streets, fields, irrigation channels, and mountains that define the horizon.
It is precisely here that the Weisses Kreuz – Adults Only has built its identity. Not by erasing the past, but by building upon it: restoring historic buildings, preserving their details, and allowing contemporary materials, design, and hospitality to enter into a dialogue with a memory dating back centuries.
Today the hotel, led by Mara Theiner, heir to a long family history, is a charming destination where the idea of Alpine luxury takes on a more intimate form. Silence, nature, expanded time, and a precise culture of hospitality become part of an experience that goes beyond a simple stay.
A Family Story in the Heart of Burgeis
The story of the Weisses Kreuz began in 1871, when Josef Theiner purchased the structure and the adjacent land along the Via Claudia Augusta, the ancient Roman route that connected the north and south of the Alps.
Since then, the building has passed through generations and transformations: shop, farm, wine shop, restaurant, hotel. In the 1960s, the modernization desired by Kurt and Maria Theiner arrived; in 1999, the large wellness center was born; in 2011, the historic Ansitz zum Löwen was also brought back to life, and since 2013, the entire complex has been progressively renovated.
In 2022, Mara Theiner, Maria’s granddaughter, carries this story forward with a new idea of hospitality, supported by chef Marc Bernhart. The 20-meter infinity pool, the winter garden, spaces for fitness and yoga, and above all MaMesa, the fine dining restaurant destined to become one of the property’s most defining projects, have arrived.
It is an interesting continuity: the Weisses Kreuz changes, but without losing its sense of place.
The Ansitz zum Löwen: Eight Centuries of History, Reinterpreted for the Present
Across the street lies one of the property’s most fascinating chapters: Ansitz zum Löwen, a historic building over 800 years old protected by the Cultural Heritage department.
The restoration chose a precise path: to preserve what time had left and pair it with contemporary elements without trying to camouflage them. Centuries-old Swiss pine, frescoes, coffered ceilings, and even seemingly minor details coexist with glass, exposed concrete, raw plaster, and contemporary-design bathrooms.
The nine suites are all different. One even dates back to the 13th century. In one room, an ancient carved ceiling may appear; in another, a decorated wall; elsewhere, the past re-emerges in a bathroom created in the old smokehouse or in an original latch.
It is this layering, rather than the search for a uniform aesthetic perfection, that gives the residence its personality.
AUREA MEA Spa: The Luxury of Slowing Down
At the Weisses Kreuz, wellness follows the same philosophy as the architecture: it does not interrupt the story of the place, it continues it.
The AUREA MEA Spa occupies 1,300 square meters and unfolds among natural materials, Swiss pine and fir saunas, a 20-meter infinity pool, and a panoramic outdoor whirlpool.
From the water, the view reaches Piz Lun and the Ortler, then descends toward the vineyards of Marienberg Abbey and the Prince’s Castle. It is a perspective that reminds us how much, in the mountains, the landscape can become an integral part of well-being.
The Silence Lounge, lit by candlelight and furnished with heated waterbeds, invites a pause. The winter garden adds another protected space from which to observe the landscape through large glass surfaces. The journey is completed by personalized treatments, massages, and rituals inspired by the essences of arnica, Swiss pine, and mountain herbs.
For those seeking a more private dimension, there is also a Private Spa with a whirlpool tub, infrared cabin, and canopy bed.
MaMesa: When the Mountains Look Beyond the Alps
However, it is at the table that the Weisses Kreuz perhaps reveals its most contemporary interpretation of Val Venosta.
The MaMesa, opened in 2022, was born from the meeting between Mara Theiner and chef Marc Bernhart, originally from Burgeis itself. The name combines “Mesa,” the Rhaeto-Romanic word for table, with a reference to Marc: a simple name for a project that has made fusion its hallmark.
Only six tables, enclosed within the architecture of a former barn transformed into a sort of glass lantern above the village. The Ortler enters the field of vision, while the interior chooses an almost urban sobriety: oak flooring, delicate tones, swivel seats, a counter clad in porphyry, and precise lighting design by Bartenbach.
The impression is deliberately far from the most conventional Alpine imagery. Once seated, the press release states, the panorama remains the only element capable of recalling Burgeis: otherwise, MaMesa could belong to Milan or New York.
Glocal: The Territory as a Starting Point, Not a Boundary
Marc Bernhart’s cuisine follows a precise rule: “global, but local”.
The roots are South Tyrolean, but the technique and ingredients look far afield. French tradition meets Thai and Japanese suggestions; mountain ingredients dialogue with products from other latitudes; fermentations, acidity, and umami become tools to build a contemporary, personal cuisine without losing the original flavor of the raw material.
It is a path that also stems from the chef’s biography. After his first experiences in South Tyrol, Bernhart worked in Austria and Switzerland, coming into contact with different cuisines and masters. At Widder in Zurich, alongside Stefan Heilemann, he particularly explored the meeting between French technique and Thai flavors, a combination that would later enter his own kitchen.
The result does not seek to imitate international cuisine. Rather, it seeks to make it speak with the mountains.
Wagyu, Speck, and Fermentations: Raw Materials from the Valley
A significant portion of the ingredients used at MaMesa comes directly from the chef’s farm.
There are Wagyu cattle raised on the meadows of Burgeis during the summer, speck produced with proprietary Duroc pigs, and honey collected from Marc Bernhart’s father’s bees. The bread, meanwhile, comes from the Jorgl bakery in St. Valentin auf der Haide, where it is produced manually with sourdough and organic grains.
Alongside this deeply local dimension, international ingredients appear: Norwegian scallops, Atlantic pike, Thai curry, red shrimp from Mazara del Vallo, French oysters, and langoustines from Norway.
Even some of the kitchen’s bases are developed in-house: the miso is produced with local barley, the garum with koji and Wagyu meat, while the soy sauce is born from the meeting of local barley and mushrooms.
White-Sugar-Free Pastry by Kay Baumgardt
Closing the gastronomic journey is Kay Baumgardt, pastry chef of MaMesa and the entire Weisses Kreuz.
His pastry starts from a clear principle: no white sugar, but techniques capable of enhancing the natural sweetness of the ingredients.
Fermentations, marinades, and pickling thus enter into the construction of desserts, along with less conventional ingredients like cauliflower and black garlic. Baumgardt, named “Pastry Chef of the Year 2020” by Gault&Millau, works through images: first he imagines the dessert, then he builds the path to get there.
Wine as Another Face of South Tyrol
The gastronomic dimension of MaMesa finds a natural completion in the cellar.
The wine list features about 500 labels, with a strong presence of South Tyrolean wines alongside great Italian reds, German Rieslings, and international selections.
The link with the territory reaches a particularly curious detail: right below Marienberg Abbey, at about 1,350 meters above sea level, lies one of the highest vineyards in Europe, which produces a wine with a different character compared to productions from lower altitudes.
Val Venosta Outside the Hotel
A stay at the Weisses Kreuz naturally invites one to step outside its walls.
Marienberg Abbey, Glurns, the ancient irrigation channels of the valley, Lake St. Valentin auf der Haide, and Lake Reschen build an itinerary that alternates history, landscape, and outdoor activities.
On foot, you can follow the Waalwege, the ancient irrigation channel paths, or walk the Sonnensteig. By bicycle, the Val Venosta Cycle Path follows part of the ancient Via Claudia Augusta from Reschen Pass to Merano.
The hotel also organizes excursions, including a sunrise outing on the Watles, while those seeking a more intense experience can try paragliding in the hiking area above Burgeis. For those who prefer to maintain their workout even on vacation, a Technogym gym and yoga and meditation classes are available three times a week.
Mara Theiner’s Addresses: The Most Authentic Val Venosta
To discover the territory through the eyes of those who live there, Mara Theiner points out some addresses away from the best-known circuits.
The Solis, on the Sonnensteig, is her suggestion for tasting wild garlic gnocchi and a reinterpreted Marende; in Kastelbell, the Josmoarhof is instead the destination for those who want to know the Chardonnay produced by Sebastian on particularly challenging slopes.
For Kaiserschmarrn, the indicated address is the Malga di Planol. Finally, in Glurns, there is Flurin, housed inside a 13th-century tower that was once a prison: here chef Thomas Ortler builds a menu linked to the seasons and the availability of local raw materials.
The Kitchen Party Returns on November 29
The Weisses Kreuz calendar finally adds an appointment dedicated to international gastronomy: the Kitchen Party returns on November 29, 2026.
The hotel’s kitchens and the MaMesa spaces will host chefs from different countries, together with Marc Bernhart and Kay Baumgardt, in an evening built as a free journey among tasting stations, wines, and music.
Once the gastronomic part is over, the hotel bar will change its atmosphere, transforming into a musical space to continue the evening.
Ultimately, the Weisses Kreuz project seems to be encapsulated in this ability to hold together seemingly distant dimensions: the silence of the mountains and a cosmopolitan cuisine, eight centuries of architecture and contemporary design, the slow pace of a holiday and a table that looks to the world.
In Burgusio, luxury is not built against history: it is born from the possibility of inhabiting it, without renouncing the present.
Photos by: Daniel Zangerl
