Sound of music returns to von Trapp Salzburg villa

0 Comments | AFP, July, 2008

VIENNA (AFP) — Salzburg is alive with the sound of music once again, as the von Trapp family's villa opened its doors to the public this weekend for the first time, as a hotel and museum.

The villa in Aigen, a southeastern suburb of Salzburg, was for over 15 years the home of Captain von Trapp, his seven children and their governess Maria, who would inspire a Broadway musical, an Oscar-winning film and some of the best-loved characters on the silver screen.

Now, 70 years after the family left Austria for the United States following the Nazis' annexation of the country in 1938, and over 40 years after cinema audiences were first treated to "The Sound of Music," the estate has rediscovered its roots.

The 878 square meter (9,450 square feet) "Villa Trapp"...