Villanders (German pronunciation: [fɪˈlandɐs]; Italian: Villandro [vilˈlandro]) is a village and comune in South Tyrol in northern Italy with 1,875 inhabitants (as of December 31, 2013).

Following a legend, some people in Villanders believe the village was first called "Schönberg", meaning beautiful mountain, and when it was destroyed by a landslide, everything looked "a lot different" ("viel anders" in German) afterwards.

It can be supposed that in the distant mists of time people discovered that life was pleasant on the fertile moraine soil of the sunny slopes of Villanders and so they settled there.

[5] During excavations in the archaeological zone at Plunacker in the area within and around the village of Villanders, a Mesolithic occupation layer was uncovered, containing stone tools made from flint from the 8th and 7th centuries BC.

[6] At the beginning of the Neolithic from 5000 BC the cultivation of the land and the keeping of domestic animals indicate that people now lived a settled life in South Tyrol.

[6] At that time the area between Ritten/Renon and Villanders lay in the border country between Trento/Tridentum, Noricum and Rhaetia, but it is impossible to be more precise, because we lack archaeological evidence.

However, it can be assumed that settlement continued, but as yet we have not been fortunate enough to find the evidence of the unbroken inhabitation of any farm from Late Antiquity up to the High Middle Ages.

They were prosperous farmers, who lived in large farmhouses, more like manor houses, and who were soon keen to extend their possessions and to gain political influence.

[7] At first the Lords of Vilanders established themselves as Ministeriales of the Brixen and Trento bishops and in the Villanders court, which formed its own judicial district within the County of Bozen.

[7] Under the reigns of the sons of Meinhard II, Otto, Ludwig and Heinrich the Lords of Vilanders were finally able to secure their position and even to rise to higher social levels.

In addition, in October 1347 Engelmar von Vilanders concluded a treaty with the Bishop of Trento, in which they pledged mutual support in the event of an attack.

[7] In the autumn of 1347, Emperor Louis IV the Bavarian led the decisive campaign against his enemies, defeated the bishop of Trento and took his revenge on the former governor, Engelmar von Vilanders, who was charged with high treason, pronounced guilty and sentenced to death.

Ekkehard von Vilanders-Trostburg was the only member of the family to regain any political influence, but he was unable to prevent the once powerful line of the Lords of Vilanders from dying out in 1547.