An archaic form of the comune's name, Waidepruk (1264), reveals its origins from Old High German. Waid means "meadow" and pruk means "bridge". The Italian name, "Ponte Gardena", has only been created during the Italianization process carried out by the Italian Fascism.
Coat-of-arms
The emblem symbolizes the bridge; argent a fessnebulygules on azure that indicates the Eisack river. The reason comes from the gules and argent insignia of the counts of Wolkenstein, owners of the local Trostburg Castle since 1385. The emblem was adopted in 1969.[4]
Society
Linguistic distribution
According to the 2011 census, 81.40% of the population speak German, 13.37% Italian and 5.23% Ladin as first language.[5]