I probably should have told people to be wise in your timing when driving to Bolzano (or anywhere on the Italian A22 corridor), whether you are coming from Brenner or Milan/Venice. I usually leave really early, or really late. There is always a traffic jam somewhere around Bolzano between about 10am and 3pm.

We had to do the same in August, and pull off at Bolzano, after sitting in an hour of traffic.