The story of this place
A Free Imperial City from 1274, Rothenburg grew rich on trade and then froze in time when the Thirty Years' War and plague left it too poor to modernise, preserving its walls, towers and gabled houses almost intact. A cherished local legend tells that during the 1631 war the conquering Catholic general Tilly offered to spare the town if a councillor could drink over three litres of wine in one draught — which the retired mayor Nusch supposedly did, saving Rothenburg; the 'Meistertrunk' is re-enacted yearly. In 1945 an American general, whose mother had a painting of the town, held off an artillery bombardment and negotiated its surrender, sparing the medieval jewel that inspired Pinocchio's village in the Disney film.